Bosnia and Herzegovina

EU membership negotiations: Europe is ours!

EU membership negotiations: Europe is ours!

On 21 March, the European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The decision came after Bosnian and Herzegovinian authorities met the relevant requirements set forth by the European Commission, paving the way for a new dimension in relations between BiH and the European Union (EU).

With this decision, BiH joins the ranks of all other Western Balkans countries except Kosovo, which is still struggling with international recognition, as five EU member states do not recognize Kosovo’s statehood. As the new geopolitical reality pushed EU decision makers to become more assertive towards BiH, this time it fused with a newly found readiness of pro-European politicians in the government, most notably of the liberal party “Naša stranka” (“Our party”).

In December 2023, the European Council made a historic decision to open negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. BiH, along with Georgia, was asked to make an additional effort before the European Council session in March. The governing coalition, of which “Naša stranka” is an integral part, exerted itself to meet the requirements set by the EU leaders. The liberals made it their ultimate goal to be the party within the coalition that pushes the EU path to the top of the government’s agenda. As “Naša stranka” has to cooperate with ideologically very distant parties due to inter-ethnic power-sharing arrangements all so well known to Bosnian politics, achieving this goal is a tremendous accomplishment.

https://twitter.com/NasaStrankaBiH/status/1770897968436072653

For at least ten years, Bosnian politicians utterly failed and brought the country’s path towards the EU to a standstill. The recent decision represents a serious advancement that needs to be followed by an even more serious effort to deliver on the remaining requirements in order for the EU Commission to prepare the negotiation framework. In addition, the date of the first intergovernmental conference, which officially marks the beginning of negotiations, needs to be set.

After a decade of setbacks and negligent progress towards the EU, this is the first time that efforts by state authorities received positive feedback even from sceptical EU member states that insist on a merit-based process. Undeniably, the geopolitical momentum in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the EU’s increased interest in the region played an important role as well. Only this time, the EU was met halfway by BiH authorities who actually delivered on much needed reforms.

Predrag Kojović, a Member of Parliament from “Naša stranka”, recently stated that BiH “can get an official date for the opening of negotiations with the EU as early as June or July this year. If we are to continue to work at this pace, I would say that the country could become a member of the EU in the year 2030!”

Dr. Adnan Huskić is a senior project manager for Bosnia and Herzegovina of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom based in Sarajevo.