Šepić: Open chapters on corruption and rule of law first in EU negotiations

SARAJevo, (Patria) - After the current authorities gambled away the new chance our country received from the EU through the British-German initiative and cemented us at the very bottom of European integration in the region, on par with Kosovo, the Independent Bloc's candidate for the BiH Presidency, Senad Šepić, has offered a plan and strategy on how Bosnia and Herzegovina can strongly move towards our most important foreign policy goal, which is membership in the European Union, the party announced.

- Dragan Čović has been pulling the wool over the citizens' eyes for months, for years, and deceiving us that Bosnia and Herzegovina would gain candidate status halfway through this mandate. Those in the Council of Ministers couldn't even translate the Questionnaire, and Bakir Izetbegović and Fahrudin Radončić, on the orders of Dodik and Čović, included cantons in the coordination process – these are the ones who promise citizens prosperity, European perspective, and milk and honey. They neither know nor want EU values and standards in BiH, because they are aware that if there are EU standards, they won't be in their positions – says Šepić, and is of the opinion that a completely new approach must be taken in the next four years.

- New leaders can bring new energy and trust to our country, and turning towards Brussels should be our priority. With new people in the Presidency and the Council of Ministers of BiH, our country will soon gain candidate status, I am convinced of that. My strategy is to open negotiations with the EU as early as possible, primarily opening chapters 23 and 24, which relate to the fight against corruption and the rule of law. This is an offer to the EU leaders as well, which I know they will accept.

This country needs to be cleansed of thieves. In the Council of Europe and in Brussels institutions, I have had numerous conversations with colleagues in the EU, and there is readiness for such an approach, only the same readiness and new policy need to come from Bosnia and Herzegovina itself. Fulfilling the conditions of these chapters will put our state on a healthy footing, with an independent and depoliticized judiciary that will prosecute everyone regardless of their position or party affiliation, and this approach will also move the entire BiH forward, as all other areas will progress.

Corruption and thieves are eroding the very substance of our country. There won't be just one Sanader here. There will be many, and from all nations. And so it should be. Corruption has no nationality, only a name and surname. These are the principles that the Independent Bloc upholds, and these are the values of an honest BiH state that we desire and for which I believe we will get a chance in the elections to build it – stated Senad Šepić, candidate for the BiH Presidency member from the Bosniak people.