EU opens Bosnia accession talks but warn ‘much more’ needed
Eight years after Bosnia and Herzegovina formally applied for EU membership, the bloc has decided to open accession talks with the country during a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday (21 March).
"Today’s decision is a key step forward on your EU path. Now the hard work needs to continue," president of the European Council Charles Michel posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Member states agreed to call on the commission to prepare the negotiating framework for Bosnia with a view to its adoption by the council the moment "all relevant steps set out in the commission’s recommendation of 12 October 2022 are taken", according to the summit’s conclusions. Meaning, Bosnia will need to keep working on its reforms.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a potential candidate since 2003, although it only formally applied to join the EU in February 2016 — and was granted candidate status in December 2022.
Earlier this month, the commission published a report on the progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina on the membership criteria and issued the recommendation to open accession talks — so it was only pending Thursday night’s political greenlight by member states.
"More progress has been achieved in just over a year than in a whole decade," commission’s president Ursula von der Leyen told the EU plenary to coincide with the report, adding that "more progress is necessary to join our union, but the country is showing it can deliver".
Dutch acting prime minister Mark Rutte made similar remarks when entering the Brussels summit on Thursday.
"It is crucial that Bosnia will tick all the boxes. Bosnia has made progress so we support opening negotiations, but at the same time Bosnia needs to do much more," Rutte said.
Last November, the commission recommended opening accession talks with both Ukraine and Moldova — but withheld a decision on Bosnia.
"Countries of the Western Balkans must be able to rely on us," German chancellor Olaf Scholz told journalists ahead of the EU leaders’ meeting in Brussels.
"The promise to become a member of the European Union was made more than 20 years ago in Thessaloniki. Now we need to take the next steps," German chancellor added.
During the summit, EU leaders also discussed the progress of Ukraine and Moldova in advancing the necessary reforms to join the EU, and also agreed to invite the council to "swiftly adopt" their negotiating frameworks and "to take work forward without delay".