EU Head in BiH: This is a wonderful day for BiH, congratulations to all citizens

Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH, Johan Sattler, addressed the media on Wednesday after a meeting with Zoran Tegeltija, the Chairman of the Bosnia’s Council of Ministers (as the government is officially called), saying it was an important day for BiH.

“I submitted two important documents to the Council of Ministers,” said Sattler and added:

“The first document is the European Commission’s recommendation that BiH be granted the status of a candidate state for EU membership without additional conditions. The second report is for BiH for the past year. I submitted the same information to the BiH Presidency. It has been pointed out several times that BiH’s place is in the EU. Today in Brussels, 27 delegates agreed that this is the moment for BiH to move forward on its path to the EU. I think this is an important moment for BiH and I want to congratulate all BiH citizens. This is a wonderful day for BiH, which deserved it, but above all its citizens deserved it.”

“If you’ll just allow me to be brief, the two documents that I handed over today are: A report on the progress of BiH, which has both positive and negative sides. Not too much progress was achieved, which is understandable because Bosnia and Herzegovina was under blockades. There was no fulfilment of the requirements in terms of political and economic criteria. There was no progress on the necessary socio-economic reforms”, said Sattler.

He added that still there have been steps forward.

“As for future steps, the decision is up to the EU Council. All 27 member states proceed procedurally to decision-making. It is a positive step, a timely step, and we had all 27 in favour of the recommendation of granting candidate status,” Sattler pointed out.

He added that Europe is in a difficult moment with regard to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and that additional importance should be given to things that bring European countries closer to each other.