• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Juncker Warns Bosnian Leaders Against Nationalism

RFE/RL's Balkan Service February 28, 2018

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has urged Bosnia-Herzegovina's leaders to overcome their differences if they want the country to join the European Union.

"Nationalism is a poison and it is contrary to European values," Juncker told Bosnia's parliament in Sarajevo on February 28.

Based on the 1995 pact that ended Bosnia's three-year civil war, the country consists of two highly autonomous entities, the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb-run Republika Srpska.

Bosnia applied for EU membership 18 months ago, but the reform process has stalled amid political quarrels among the country's leaders.

"It requires joint efforts for a state to become a member," Juncker told lawmakers. "When there are differences, it leads to paralysis, it leads to delays."

The chief of the EU's executive body, who is touring the six Balkan countries that remain outside the EU, earlier in the day received from Bosnian officials a questionnaire on the country's readiness to join the bloc.

"I cannot promise you a date for when your country becomes a candidate," he told the Bosnian political establishment gathered for the handover ceremony. "The essence is more important than the date."

It took more than a year for Bosnia's multiple administrations to agree responses to more than 3,000 questions relating to the compatibility of Bosnia's economic, legal, and social systems with EU standards.

Addressing Bosnia's parliament, Juncker called on politicians to agree on changes to the election law, to tackle organized crime and corruption, and to resolve its territorial disputes.

Bosnian officials say they hope their country will be granted the status of an EU candidate later this year.

With reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/european-union-juncker- bosnia-nationalism/29068222.html

Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.