EU foreign, defence ministers adopt Strategic Compass

The foreign and defence ministers of the European Union member states on Monday adopted a Strategic Compass, which gives a vision of the Union's defence development, and at Croatia's insistence, the document also makes an explicit reference to Bosnia and Herzegovina's constituent peoples.
 
The Strategic Compass is a document that includes the Union's political and strategic agenda in the next five to ten years.
 
The section of the document on the strategic environment reads that the EU today "is surrounded by instability and conflicts and faces a war on its borders." "We are confronted with a dangerous mix of armed aggression, illegal annexation, fragile states, revisionist powers and authoritarian regimes."
 
Concerning the Western Balkans region, the document reads that "security and stability throughout the Western Balkans is still not a given, also due to increasing foreign interferences, including information manipulation campaigns, as well as through potential spill over from the current deterioration of the European security situation."
 
"In this regard, it is of particular interest to support the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the principles of equality and non-discrimination of all citizens and constituent peoples as enshrined in the Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution, as well as the reform process on its European path and to take forward the EU-led Pristina-Belgrade dialogue."
 
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman said that the document stated that EU had to assume new responsibilities concerning security and defence, underlining the importance of the document explicitly referencing, at Croatia’s insistence, the constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
 
Text: Hina/MFEA

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