Bosnia and Herzegovina will know on Monday if its path to the EU is unblocked

The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, told reporters in Belgrade today that the RS authorities will give their consent for BiH to sign the adapted Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU.

The SAA is one of the key conditions that BiH must fulfill if it wants to open negotiations with Brussels on Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to the European Union, writes Patria. There are three days left until the credibility of the application for EU membership, submitted by BiH at the beginning of the year, is considered. BiH's application will be considered on July 18.

The RS Government previously refused to give consent for the signing of the SAA, justifying it by saying that agriculture in RS would be endangered. The decision of the RS Government was followed by the member of the BiH Presidency from the Serb people, Mladen Ivanić. His position is that if the RS Government gives consent for the signing of the SAA, he will support it. If the Government refuses to do so, he will not put his signature on the SAA either. The Government in RS first refused to support the SAA, but suddenly changed its decision.

The refusal to sign the SAA also caused the IMF to postpone a loan for BiH exceeding one billion KM.

Dodik made the sudden decision after talks with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade. He announced that the RS authorities will talk with domestic agricultural producers about the SAA on Friday.

German Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt visited BiH a few days ago. He said that Germany will help BiH and its agriculture with about 30 million euros. Schmidt's visit also influenced Dodik to change his mind about the SAA, writes Patria.