Crnadak expects a better progress report for BiH, Europe bothered by unfulfilled promises of politicians

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Igor Crnadak expects that the European Commission's progress report on Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2015 will be better than previous ones, but that it will not be „anything spectacular“.

Crnadak stated today in a statement to journalists in Banja Luka that it will probably mention both what has been done and what has not, and what needs to be done.

As recently reported by the news agency Patria, the progress report on BiH, which will be published in the coming period, will be somewhat better compared to last year's, but it will not contain significant progress, a diplomatic source in Brussels told Patria.

As the source from Brussels further reveals, our country is most criticized for lacking a functional system due to its complicated structure, as well as many promises by politicians that they do not fulfill, and the fact that there is still a High Representative in BiH, whose activity is obviously still needed.

- It is true that BiH was promised that it could submit its application for EU membership by the end of the year or the beginning of next year, but everyone must also be aware that the response will take up to two years, which is a long time – says our source.

Incidentally, the progress report is based on data submitted by the candidate/potential candidate country, EU member states, reports from the European Parliament, and data provided by international and non-governmental organizations.

The European Commission publishes a progress report every year and submits it to the EU Council and the European Parliament, as well as to the relevant country. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first progress report was published in 2005, preceded by annual reports on the stabilization and association process (from 2002 to 2004) and a report on meeting conditions (from 1997 to 2000).