Reactions after Juncker's address: We must start listening to each other and seeking solutions

BiH, (Patria) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker addressed the deputies and delegates of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and other present guests today, stating that "the path we have embarked on is the natural path for Bosnia and Herzegovina".

- Because you are Europe and an integral part of the European territory, European history and culture, and we must improve and consolidate the history and geography of Europe together – Juncker said, among other things.

The deputies' reactions are varied, but most believe it is shameful that the Questionnaire was submitted without the deputies knowing what was answered.

- I don't know if parliamentary consent was necessary, but it is unacceptable for Parliament to be completely excluded from European integration. They are acting as if two or three families are entering the EU, not BiH society, because they are hiding information about it between those two or three families. Neither Parliament nor the Committee for European Integration has information about what was prepared in the answers, and therefore the public does not know either. We should have known the content, not have to figure it out privately – said Saša Magazinović, SDP MP in the House of Representatives of the PSBiH.

The head of the SNSD parliamentary group in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH), Staša Košarac, said that the address by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in the PSBiH today was not historic, but it was a significant event, given that there is a declarative stance in BiH that our country wants to become a member of the European Union (EU).

As he said, all these years we have witnessed the EU integration process having "different kinds of translations", which are sometimes very maximalist in the context of centralizing power and integrating parts of the international community with those who want to see BiH exclusively as a unitary and centralized country.

- There are different translations of "one voice" from BiH. We from Republika Srpska (RS) will be very cautious when it comes to one voice from BiH, confirming our commitment that we are for the EU, but what is significant and beneficial for everyone in BiH and the European path is maximum respect for the coordination mechanism – he emphasized.

Aleksandra Pandurević, an SDS MP in the PDPSBiH, stated that Juncker said what everyone knows: that there is no European perspective without political stability.

- We can export stability from BiH to Europe, and certainly not the other way around, that is a great message, and the second is that the rule of law is an obligation for everyone. The messages to our country are clear: to tackle crime and corruption and to establish tolerance here, because there is no democracy without dialogue. We must start listening to each other and seeking solutions – said Pandurević, stating that unfortunately we are far from that.