Pusić: EU response to BiH friends’ breakfast proves success is possible

“So far some 20 EU foreign ministers have confirmed their attendance at the working breakfast of the friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be held on Monday in Luxembourg...

“So far some 20 EU foreign ministers have confirmed their attendance at the working breakfast of the friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be held on Monday in Luxembourg. There has never been such a response and that confirms that there is an assessment that success is possible, which is probably the most important message,” said First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusić after meeting with her Bosnian counterpart Igor Crnadak in Sarajevo.

The meeting also discussed the progress of countries in the region in implementing reforms and getting closer to EU membership. Pusić underscored that the EU's new approach meant that Bosnia now had a real opportunity to progress toward EU membership through reforms that were feasible. She said Bosnia had a hard time meeting earlier conditions, but underlined that the criteria could be a part of the whole process, instead of conditioning its beginning. Pusić assessed that the following week or in May at the latest the EU-Bosnia Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) could be formally unfrozen. The agreement will be a sort of dress rehearsal for the negotiations," Pusić said.

The ministers also discussed bilateral relations, including transport and energy policies and flood protection and prevention, as well as other topics of the two neighbouring countries’ mutual interest.

After his first meeting with Pusić since his appointment as the foreign minister, Crnadak expressed hope in good cooperation that would benefit the people of Croatia as well as the nations of Bosnia, thanking Pusić for her contribution in launching the EU’s new approach. He described relations between Croatia and Bosnia as good, saying the countries would try to resolve contentious issues through cooperation. Crnadak added that there “was nothing more logical or smarter than for BiH to utilise Croatia's experience on its path to EU membership.” He underscored that Bosnia was one of Croatia’s most important trade partners and that the two countries’ ministries of foreign affairs would continue to communicate and cooperate for a better economic future.

Responding to reporters’ questions about trade, Pusić recalled that the option of free export that the EU was now seeking of BiH had also been asked of Croatia with regard to Slovenia. "BiH has to do that too, it is one of the stages of its European path," Pusić said. Crnadak said that BiH was willing to make the most of its commitments. 

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