The 27 countries of the European Union give the green light to accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina

These negotiations will only begin once a certain number of reforms have been carried out by this Balkan country.

Sarajevo soon in the European Union (EU)? The leaders of EU countries gave the green light on Thursday March 21 to the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina. “Congratulations! Your place is in our European family. Today’s decision is a key step in your path to the EU. Now the difficult work must continue”declared the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, on the X network.

This decision by the Twenty-Seven, meeting at a summit in Brussels, is the latest in a movement towards EU enlargement which has gained strength since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “Based on the Commission’s recommendation of 12 March 2024, the European Council decides to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina”states the joint declaration adopted by the leaders.

An agenda of 14 “essential priorities”

The latter invite “the Commission to prepare the negotiating framework with a view to its adoption by the Council (of the EU) when all the appropriate measures set out in the Commission recommendation of 12 October 2022 have been taken”. Discussions can only begin after the approval of all the governments of the member states for this negotiating framework.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, a country of 3.5 million inhabitants, obtained candidate status in 2022 after the favorable opinion of the Commission, which had identified 14 “essential priorities” for reforms. These consist in particular of improving the functioning of central institutions, strengthening the rule of law and fundamental rights, the fight against corruption and organized crime in this country, one of the poorest in Europe.

Bosnia recently opened negotiations for a cooperation agreement with the European border guard agency Frontex, its Parliament adopted an anti-money laundering law demanded by Brussels as well as a law on conflict prevention interests in institutions. But there is still no agreement on the reform of the courts and on the electoral law. Bosnia remains very divided after the intercommunal conflict which devastated this former Yugoslav Republic and left more than 100,000 dead.