Bosnia-Herzegovina is to become an EU accession candidate

Created: 2022-12-13 2:13 p.m

A new parliament was elected in Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 2nd.

© Armin Durgut/AP/dpa/Archive

There is concern in the EU that Bosnia-Herzegovina could orient itself towards Russia or China in the future.

This is not the only reason why the Balkan state should now finally be declared a candidate for accession.

Brussels - The Balkan state of Bosnia-Herzegovina is to be officially named a candidate for accession to the European Union at the EU summit this Thursday.

The European Ministers of the EU states made a corresponding recommendation in Brussels on Tuesday.

It is considered certain that it will be accepted by the heads of state and government.

The reason is also the concern that the country, which has around 3.3 million inhabitants, could otherwise orient itself more towards Russia or China.

"Bosnia-Herzegovina has made enormous reform efforts in recent months," said German Minister of State for Europe Anna Lührmann (Greens) in Brussels on the recommendation.

In addition, it was possible to hold the recent elections in a fair and free environment and to form a government.

Moldova and Ukraine already candidate countries

As early as June, the EU states had officially nominated Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for EU membership following a recommendation from the Commission.

However, accession negotiations are only to begin once the reform requirements have been met.

This procedure should now also apply to Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In the course of the decision in favor of Ukraine and Moldova, EU states such as Austria in particular had urged that Bosnia-Herzegovina also go down this route.

The country was given the prospect of joining the EU in 2003 and 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.

The EU Commission recently emphasized that it is still crucial for the start of accession negotiations that the conditions are met.

dpa