Bosnia and Herzegovina: candidate status recommended

EU Commission recommends candidate status for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Enlargement Commissioner Varhelyi speaks of a “historic opportunity”.

Flags of the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina in Brussels in June 2022 Photo: Stephanie Lecocq/epa

BELGRADE taz | After Ukraine and Moldova is now to be followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina: The EU Commission has proposed to the member states that the Balkan country be declared a candidate for EU membership. Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi spoke of a “historic opportunity” on Wednesday.

Bosnia and Herzegovina had already officially applied for the status in 2016. Since then, however, the country has made little progress on urgently needed reforms.

On the contrary, it is currently in the deepest crisis since the end of the war in 1995. In particular the Serbian nationalist leader Milorad Dodikwho previously held the Serbian seat on the state presidency, repeatedly threatens to the Republic of Srpska to be detached from the state as a whole. This consists of a Serbian and a Croatian-Bosniak state.

Croatian nationalists are also taking repeated steps to discredit the state as a whole. This tugging is paralyzing Bosnia’s institutions and the country’s development for the time being.

Appeals from Enlargement Commissioner Vahely

Enlargement Commissioner Varhelyi is likely to have meant these actors, among others, when he warned on Twitter: “I call on those responsible in this country to seize this historic opportunity and to take the steps mentioned in our recommendation quickly.”

The EU Commission defined these steps in 2019 in the form of 14 key positions. Only when these have been implemented should Bosnia and Herzegovina be allowed to start accession negotiations with the EU.

The positions include reforms of the judiciary and the electoral law. In the run-up to the elections on October 2, the latter caused a stir several times, when Croatian nationalists in particular under HDZ chairman Dragan Čović vom International High Representative Christian Schmidtwho monitors the peace order in the country and has special powers, urged the electoral law to be changed to their liking.

The current decision of the EU Commission is a recommendation. The final decision as to whether and when Bosnia and Herzegovina can start accession negotiations is made by the 27 EU member states – unanimously.

Still a long way to the EU

In the past, this meant that North Macedonia was stuck with the status of a candidate for accession for a full 17 years before it could start negotiations. First, Greece had vetoed it because of a name dispute, then Bulgaria blocked North Macedonia’s EU ambitions because of a conflict over language and culture.

So it may be years before Bosnia and Herzegovina obtains its status as an EU candidate, as did Ukraine and Moldova this year. Until then, the country has enough reform work to do.