prijava
BRUSSELS, May 29 (FENA) - The European Commission's Opinion to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union shows a significant milestone in relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU, which remains committed to supporting BiH on its path to the EU, stated the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn today in Brussels.
After the address by Johannes Hahn, European Parliament Rapporteur for BiH Cristian Dan Preda said that the European Commission's Opinion stated that BiH could ultimately become a member of the EU, with a number of steps and requirements that must be met.
"The Commission has now given a positive attitude on the candidate status, and I hope that the Council will consider what is happening and understand how important it is to accept the candidate status," Preda said, and 28 EU member states will decide on this.
Today, at the extraordinary session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, the Commissioner presented a new report on the countries that aspire to become members of the European Union, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is the "Enlargement Package for 2019".
Speaking about Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for EU membership, Hahn recalled that the European Commission provided the entire roadmap for reforms in the field of democracy, rule of law, human rights and public administration.
“For the first time, the situation in BiH is being reviewed in relation to all the standards applied to the member states, the Council of the European Union is to make certain decisions on the next steps for BiH, and then all reforms in all areas in BiH will be addressed,” said Hahn.
The Commissioner said that all the countries of the Western Balkans have made some progress, but there are also many challenges to be solved, and in this report, the European Commission gave guidelines for solving the disputed issues.
There are still weaknesses in the field of economy, it is necessary, Hahn added, to resolve the issue of high unemployment, it is necessary to continue with reforms, and the key factor is to raise the standard of living, and as an example, he singled out the agreement on roaming in WB that is there to ease the burden on the citizens and businesses.
He commended the progress of Albania, which has been tackling the reform of the judicial system, but also the progress of North Macedonia, which continues to implement, as he said, an ambitious reform plan, and he especially emphasized that the name dispute resolution with Greece was the best example of good regional cooperation.
This is important, he pointed out, because the EU is committed not to "import" bilateral disputes into the Union, but it is necessary that the countries solve them among themselves.
These two countries continue to implement the planned reforms, and the Council unanimously decided to open negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia immediately.
He noted that Montenegro and Serbia should act with greater determination and make additional efforts in the field of rule of law reform, and this is the most important condition for achieving progress, including the meeting the conditions from the chapters 23 and 24.
“Pristina and Belgrade must create a favorable and secure environment and achieve the signing of a legally binding agreement and avoid all actions that the other side sees as provocation,” underlined Hahn.
He pointed out that Kosovo needs to bring back its political focus on progress towards the European Union, underlining that the key reform processes they have achieved were shaken by the introduction of customs taxes on goods from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and Hahn urged them to resolve the issue.
“Cooperation with Turkey is degrading as the country is moving away from the EU. It is not implementing the reforms in the field of rule of law and the administration. The council concluded that negotiations with Turkey are to be suspended, and that other chapters cannot be considered nor can there be opening of new ones,” Hahn concluded.
(FENA) S. R.
