Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusić, at the invitation of German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his British counterpart Phillip Hammond, attended 5 November in Berlin a conference of Southeast European foreign ministers, at which the German and British FMs launched an initiative for Bosnia and Herzegovina's swifter drawing closer to the EU, calling for BiH politicians to undertake the necessary reforms as soon as a new government is formed.
The conference, apart from the region’s FMs (Albania’s Ditmir Bushati, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Zlatko Lagumdžija, Kosovo’s Enver Hoxaj, Macedonia’s Nikola Ioposkoi, Montenegro’s Igor Lukšić and Serbia’s Ivica Dačić), also gathered officials from the EU, NATO and the US.
"Great Britain and Germany embarked on an initiative to change the approach to BiH, to move from passive conditioning to active conditioning, from just saying 'these are the criteria you must meet' to 'we will work with you on meeting them," Pusić told the press after the conference.
Brining the Western Balkans back on the EU agenda began with the Croatian initiative in Brussels in February and the adoption of conclusions on BiH at the April’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
Pusić said it was important now for the initiative to become an official EU initiative. "It is extremely important, with all other crises in the European neighbourhood, to return BiH to the EU agenda."
That calls for cooperation and pressure by BiH citizens, she said, as well as a clear position that the elected officials are expected to set BiH on a safe path towards EU membership.
"For Europe's stability, especially in the current geopolitical and security circumstances, the stability of the Western Balkans and Southeast Europe is crucial," Pusić concluded.
Steinmeier and Hammond sent an open letter to BiH citizens, saying the next four years will be crucial for the country's future and that a government which prioritised concrete reforms should be swiftly formed.
The two ministers will propose to Brussels to ask of the elected politicians to commit to that in a written statement and by adopting the obligation to agree a reform plan with the EU.
“If your politicians do that, we will ask the EU to enforce the Stabilisation and Association Agreement,” they said.
Steinmeier and Hammond said they did not want to go back to the time when laws and decisions were adopted on international orders but that they wanted the democratic system in BiH to work and the country to be independent and strong.
“We want your new government to be the first on that path and we will be generous in extending support to those who set the path to a better future”, the letter reads.
The ministers said the new approach did not change the EU accession requirements or lower standards and that BiH, if it wanted to enjoy the benefits of EU membership, must meet the requirements which applied to all future member states, including dealing with the issue of ethnic minorities as stated in the Sejdić-Finci ruling.
“But we can't do this alone. We need partners in BiH with a vision and a feeling of responsibility, leaders whose goal is the common good and not just apparent benefit for their electorate,” the German and British ministers said in the letter.
The Berlin conference is part of the intensified talks on the region, its European prospects and ways to realize that future. Brining the Western Balkans back on the EU agenda began with Croatia’s initiative in Brussels this February and the adoption of conclusions regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina at the April’s Foreign Affairs Council, given that stable and safe surroundings are Croatia’s permanent national and state interest. Croatia’s foreign policy has placed the region high on the priority list, whereby it was also important to ensure support from the European partners, which we have succeeded in. As part of the region, as well as the Central Europe and the Mediterranean, Croatia is interested in and responsible for the region’s stability.