European Commission formally recommends opening accession negotiations with BiH

(Patria) - The European Commission (EC) has formally recommended the opening of accession negotiations between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The final decision on this will be made by the EU Council, i.e., the leaders of states and governments of the member countries. A discussion aimed at making a final positive decision will be held at the summit scheduled for March 21 and 22 in Brussels, writes RSE.

The heads of state and government of the EU make the decision to open accession negotiations, and it must be unanimous.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed earlier today that this institution will recommend the opening of accession negotiations between the EU and BiH during the day.

During her speech at the plenary session of the European Parliament, she assessed that BiH has made more progress since gaining candidate status than in more than a decade.

The report published by the EC will serve as a basis for discussion at the leaders' level at the upcoming summit next week.

BiH has had candidate status for full membership since December 2022.

The EC's opinion was received in May 2019, and it defined 14 priorities divided into four areas: democracy and institutional functioning; rule of law; fundamental rights and public administration reform – which BiH needs to fulfill to begin negotiations for full membership.

In December 2023, EU leaders expressed their readiness to open accession negotiations with BiH and invited the Commission to publish a report in March on the degree of fulfillment of key criteria, which will be the basis for the EU leaders' decision.