The European Union wants to see Bosnia and Herzegovina with functional institutions and its political actors respecting and fully implementing the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, said after the European Commission adopted its 2021 report for the country on Tuesday.
Varhelyi spoke at a press conference following the adoption of the 2021 EU Enlargement Package and made the statement responding to a question by N1’s reporter, Esmir Milavic.
The journalist asked Varhelyi whether the EU plans to react to the political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically, whether it may sanction those who work against the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the war and contains the country’s Constitution.
“We stand by the Dayton Agreement. We want all actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina to respect and implement fully the Dayton Accords, and we need a Bosnia that is functional fully, with all its state institutions,” Varhelyi said.
He argued that this is not only in the interest of Europe and regional stability but also in the interest of the people of BiH.
The EC’s Progress Report adopted on the same day said that “the public political commitment of the authorities at all levels of government to the strategic goal of European integration has not been turned into concrete action,” as political leaders “continued to engage in divisive rhetoric and unconstructive political disputes.”
This has hindered progress on the country fulfilling the 14 key priorities the EC defined for Bosnia on its path towards EU candidate status.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to move forward on all 14 key priorities to progress on EU accession path. Political leaders need to support, not disrupt the functioning of State institutions and work on adoption of rule of law and judicial reforms,” Varhelyi also tweeted on Tuesday.