EU accession path opens for Bosnia and Herzegovina

The European Union (EU) countries decided to recommend that Bosnia and Herzegovina be granted “candidate country” status. The decision was announced during the meeting of the ministers of the EU countries responsible for European affairs in Brussels.

The EU commissioner responsible for enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, said in a statement on his Twitter account: “Today we have reached another milestone. The EU road is open! “We have high hopes and expectations that the 14 key priorities will be met for the benefit of the citizens,” he said.

The leaders of the EU member states are expected to approve the decision at the EU Summit to be held on December 15.

The European Council declared that it was ready to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 23 and invited the Commission to present a report on the implementation of 14 key priorities. Varhelyi also announced at the presentation of the Commission’s 2022 Enlargement Report in the European Parliament on October 12 that a proposal was made to grant “candidate country” status to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a “potential candidate” country. .

Candidacy status is the first step in a country’s long-term EU membership process. After a country is granted candidate status, accession negotiations begin in the following stages, provided the conditions are met. Accession negotiations can take years to start. (AA)