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EU Council President Charles Michel
Photo: YVES HERMAN / REUTERS
The Balkan state of Bosnia-Herzegovina can hope to join the group of EU accession candidates like Ukraine and Moldova.
According to EU Council President Charles Michel, the EU Commission should quickly present a new report on the country's reform efforts.
The EU states would then be ready to make a decision on the candidate status for Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has a population of around 3.3 million, the Belgian explained on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels.
Austria, in particular, had previously urged Bosnia-Herzegovina to be officially made a candidate for EU membership at the summit meeting.
The Austrian Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer explained the agreed procedure.
Bosnia must then become a candidate for accession.
If all 14 preconditions to the country are met, concrete negotiations would have to be started.
»It is important to take care of Bosnia-Herzegovina«
The decision of the EU summit on Ukraine and Moldova on Thursday stipulates that Ukraine and Moldova have candidate status with immediate effect.
However, accession negotiations are only to begin once the reform requirements have been met.
In the evening, Nehammer emphasized that even if the war in Ukraine was the dominant topic, it still had to apply: "We mustn't forget the Balkans.
It is important to take care of Bosnia-Herzegovina.«
Bosnia-Herzegovina was given the prospect of joining the EU as early as 2003, and the country officially submitted an application for membership in 2016.
In 2019, however, it was decided that the country should only be granted candidate status once it had fulfilled 14 reform requirements.
In a country report last October, the EU Commission came to the conclusion that there had recently been little progress.
dop/dpa