Zvizdic: Bosnia could catch up with region on road to EU

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Bosnia and Herzegovina made significant progress over the past three years on the road of European integration, said Chairman of the Bosnia's Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic on Monday, while presenting the results of three-year work of this state executive body.

“We met all our obligations from the Bosnia's European agenda, and at this moment – except possible additional questions we may get – there are no other conditions. So, we are before the candidate status and that is certainly one of the greatest successes,” said Zvizdic.

Bosnia and Herzegovina formally applied for the EU membership in February 2016 and was to provide the answers to the 3,242 questions of the European Commission's Questionnaire within six months. However, it took the country a year to complete the process, because of deep political and ethnic divisions.

In February this year, Bosnia's senior officials handed over the answers to the Questionnaire to the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and the country is now expecting the response to the EU membership application.

According to Zvizdic, Bosnia could catch up with other countries in the region on the EU integration road and even to complete the process of negotiations by 2025.

“Peace and stability on territory of Bosnia and the entire Balkans is crucial goal, not only for Bosnia bur it must be the crucial goal for all countries in the Western Balkans”, noted Zvizdic. “This is a precondition for economic development, for social stability and it is a precondition for prosperity of our region in general.”