Al Jazeera Balkans portal published a short analysis of the Alternative Report on the application of Bosnia and Herzegovina for EU.
The document was prepared by an informal coalition made up of 40 organizations of civil society, gathered around the initiative for the monitoring European integration of B&H.
Although the Report refers primarily to political criteria for the EU membership, it also contains additional information about the General elections held last year, the situation related to migrants and refugees in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and civil protests in the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska.
The president of BAC Ismail Ćidić, provided several comments about the European integrations of Bosnia and Herzegovina. You can read highlighted comments in the text below, while the full article is available on: http://balkans.aljazeera.net/vijesti/bih-neozbiljno-pristupa-eurointegracijama
“It is not only that Bosnian politicians show lack of interest for the European integration, but also a lack of seriousness. It can be best seen from sensational announcements, especially when talking about deadlines, since by now we’ve only heard unrealistic statements regarding the date of gaining a membership status on countless occasions, although the EU officials said that these dates, mentioned by our politicians, are unrealistic.”
“It is obvious that in this way they are trying to conceal their bad record. By continually setting new dates, we are under impression that some improvement has been made while, in a fact, the situation is completely opposite. The lack of seriousness in approach to the European integration is obvious from communication and relations with European officials. Meetings are not frequent, and even when they are held, EU officials complain, among other things, about insufficient knowledge of English language of our representatives as well as the evident lack of political will.”
“There is no doubt that the political system is one of the main reasons why the process of EU integration of B&H is slow. EU officials must understand that and not behave as if they do not see it. If our political system had emerged purely as a result of our internal consensus – that kind of attitude would be justified. However, they must take into consideration the fact that it emerged as a result of the Dayton Peace Accord. If they want to criticize ineffectiveness of the political system, then they should undertake specific steps so that our political system, which is the most complicated political system in the world, would be modified.”
“The European Union should work on offering membership to all countries in the Western Balkans at the same time. Integration of individual countries would be a huge mistake. Either all Western Balkans countries join the EU together or none should. We hope that this is clear to the EU, especially considering unpleasant situations which occurred between Slovenia and Croatia during Croatia’s EU negotiations.