Brussels – A quarter of EU member states are resolutely committed to supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina on its path to membership in the European Union, just days ago. a European Council meeting that could be the final call for Sarajevo’s ambitions to accelerate the accession process. On this occasion, the group of Friends of the Western Balkans, made up of the seven member states most open to the immediate integration of the Balkan countries in the region — Italy, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Slovakia and Slovenia — is on the move again. “We believe it is essential to seize the current momentum and window of opportunity and decide to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.” reads a letter – obtained by Eunews–sent by the respective foreign ministers (Raffaele Fitto for Italy) to the Belgian rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, their 20 other colleagues and the commissioner responsible for neighborhood policy and enlargement Olivier Várhelyi.
A green light at the Council meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday (21-22 March) would allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to “commit resolutely to the path to the European Union”. Otherwise, “it would weaken the EU’s role in the Western Balkans and send a negative message to the entire region.”, to whom we promised more than 20 years ago that its future would lie within the EU,” warn the Friends of the Western Balkans. While waiting for the latest version of the conclusions of the EU leaders’ summit, chapter 4 on “enlargement and reforms” still appears empty, “waiting for the text”. But the warning had already come during von der Leyen’s speech. end of January trip in Sarajevo with the prime ministers of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovićand the Netherlands, Marc Rutte. “After March, the year will be full of issues such as the elections and the new configuration of the Parliament and the Commission,” declared the number one of the Union, confirming the even more explicit words of Croatian Prime Minister Plenković: “If we miss the opportunity in March, the rest of the year will be wasted and it will almost certainly end in January 2025..”
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s path to EU membership
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s journey to the European Union has begun on February 15, 2016, with the official submission of its membership application. For more than six years, no positive response came from the European institutions due to the almost disastrous situation of the country in terms of basic conditions (Copenhagen criteria) for having been considered a formal candidate. However, over the last two years, signs of confidence have intensified, notably from the European executive and its president, also taking into account the risks of Russian destabilization of a very delicate country and region in the heart of Europe.
When presenting the 2022 Enlargement package, the Commission recommended to the Council to grant Bosnia-Herzegovina the status of candidate country for EU membership, with a particularly passionate speech in Sarajevo from von der Leyen during his trip to the capitals of the Balkans to announce the energetic support of Brussels. After assessing the Commission’s opinion, the EU leaders’ summit on December 15, 2022 gave the green light to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of candidate country for EU membership while emphasizing the need to implement crucial reforms in the areas of rule of law, fundamental rights, strengthening of democratic institutions and public administration.
After becoming the eighth candidate country for membership in the EU enlargement process, Bosnia and Herzegovina continued its path towards the Union. Thanks to the progress (albeit limited) made by Brussels in the 2023 enlargement package, the European Commission has decided to include a recommendation to the European Council aimed at launch accession negotiations for Sarajevo “once the necessary degree of compliance with the accession criteria has been achieved”. In other words, the recommendation is there, but it is obvious that the response from the leaders’ summit will await further positive news regarding the 14 priorities defined by the Commission (of which only two have been achieved). This is how it happened during the last European Council in December, with the decision to start negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina without indicating an actual start date.
The Republika Srpska obstacle
However, the path to bringing Bosnia-Herzegovina closer to the Union is made particularly difficult by the President of Republika Srpska. Milorad Dodikwho defended a secessionist project since October 2021. The objective is to remove the region from the control of the central state in areas as crucial as the army, the tax system and the judicial system, more than 20 years after the end of the ethnic war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Parliament has called for economic sanctions. After the harsh condemnation of the secessionist attempts of the Serb-majority entity in Bosnia (with a bill aimed at creating an autonomous High Council of the Judiciary), Bosnian leaders met in Brussels in mid-June 2022 to sign a charter of stability and peace focused mainly on electoral and constitutional reforms in this Balkan country.
However, concerns have become increasingly realistic since late March 2023, when the government of the Bosnian Serb entity presented a bill to establish a register of foreign-funded associations and foundations. The therefore-called “foreign agents” law is similar to that adopted by Moscow in December 2022 and was approved at the end of September by Banja Luka National Assembly. At the same time, the adoption process amendments to the Penal Code reintroducing criminal sanctions in cases of defamation also moved forward. Following this proposal – also at the end of March – the law came into force on August 18 and now provides for fines of 5,000 to 20,000 Bosnian marks (2,550 to 10,200 euros) if the defamation occurs “by the press, the radio, television or other. public media, at a public meeting or otherwise. The European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EU delegation in Sarajevo attacked Banja Luka, stressing that the two laws “to have had a frightening effect on freedom of expression in Republika Srpska.”
Secessionist provocations went hand in hand with the question of relations with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. As early as September 20, 2022, Dodik traveled to Moscow for a bilateral meeting with Putin after openly provoking Western partners over the illegal annexation of Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions. Provocations which continued at the beginning of January 2023 with the award to the Russian autocrat of the Order of Republika Srpska (the highest honor awarded to the Serbian-majority entity of the Balkan country) – in recognition of “patriotic interest and love” towards the demands of Banja Luka – on the occasion of the National Day of Republika Srpska, an unconstitutional holiday under Bosnian law. As if that were not enough, in May 2023 Dodik made a second trip to Moscow, while in Brussels doubts were emerging about the Union’s inability to respond with sanctions. European sources revealed Eunews that a framework of restrictive measures has existed for some time, ready to be implemented, but the Hungarian Viktor Orbán does not give the green light. Any such foreign policy action requires unanimity within the Council.
Find more information about the Balkan region in the BarBalkans Newsletter hosted by Eunews
English version by Withub translation service