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Brussels recommends granting Bosnia the status of EU candidate, but with conditions

12 October 2022 18:58 (UTC +04:00)

The European Commission has recommended that Bosnia and Herzegovina be granted the official status of candidate country to join the European Union, but under the condition of further reforms, APA reports citing Euronews.

"Today we have proposed to grant candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the [Commission's] college decision," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

"We have recognised Georgia's European perspective too, so the wind of change is once again blowing through Europe and we have to capture this momentum."

The announcement represents a geopolitical step forward for the Balkan country, which has for months seen a rise in political infighting and ethnic tensions that threatens its delicate power-sharing system.

In June this year, the European Council affirmed it was "ready" to grant Bosnia the candidate status and asked the European Commission to report back on the implementation of 14 key priorities from its 2019 report, covering areas such as democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights and public administration reform.

"We expect from the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina to make full use of this opportunity and to make the following reforms as soon as possible," said Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, as he presented the 2022 report.

Bosnia has spent almost two decades on the EU's waiting list: it was first identified as a "potential" EU candidate in June 2003 and submitted its formal application in February 2016.