Teodorescu: BiH is a European country, and its citizens are Europeans no less than those from Brussels

Filip Teodorescu, who has completed his four-year term as Ambassador of Romania to our country, sent a farewell message to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the Patria News Agency is transmitting in its entirety.

-Yesterday, June 30, I left Bosnia and Herzegovina after almost four and a half years of work as Ambassador of Romania in Sarajevo, and my heart is heavy, full of emotions.

I spent four full years here in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, beautiful years, and their sum is immense: beautiful places, beautiful people, special friends, visits to places that tell stories, the image of a European country.

During that period, my priority was to get to know the people of this country – who they are, what they want, what is truly important to them. I came to a simple, yet clear conclusion that I will share with all those who in Romania or anywhere else in the world want to know:

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a European country by tradition, history, calling, and destiny. The people of this country, whether Bosniaks, Croats, or Serbs, or of other nationalities, are true Europeans, no less than those Europeans from London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna.

The people of this country are open, kind, tolerant, civilized, creative, lovers of beauty, and lovers of culture.

The people of this country love peace and stability and are developing inter-personal and inter-ethnic relations that can easily become, with modest efforts, a model of coexistence. The people of this country, like the people of the entire Western Balkans, desire reconciliation and need peace and stability, especially after the painful wounds caused by the conflicts of the recent past in the Balkans.

The first lesson I learned during the past years, and which makes me feel wiser now that I have returned home, is that Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens love peace, desire reconciliation, and a prosperous future for their country and the region.

The second lesson is that the best solution for lasting peace in the region is to let the people in the region find compromise and internal consensus through dialogue, solutions for regional development. The voice of the region must be clearer, stronger – a solution for regional development without considering their voices will never be sustainable.

The third lesson is that the people of this country truly deserve a better future: a better life, a more beautiful life, lasting connections with the rest of Europe, etc. The desire for a better life, which I saw there, is equal to the spirit and feelings of the people in my country and those of other European countries for a better life.

The fourth lesson is that our peoples should get to know each other better. Closer ties, mutual visits and joint trips, projects, better cultural and spiritual connections, etc., are needed between Romanians and the people of this country, whether from Sarajevo, Banja Luka, or Mostar.

Finally, the last lesson I learned and which made me wiser now that I am in Bucharest is that my love for this country, where I lived every day in this city, has grown: my feelings for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are deeper now than when I arrived there more than 4 years ago.

Therefore, now that I have left Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, I can only recall the lyrics of Kemal Monteno to help my heart, which will accompany me throughout my life: Wherever I go / I dream of you / All roads lead me to you / I wait with some longing / for your lights / Sarajevo, my love.

Goodbye and see you soon Sarajevo. Goodbye and see you soon Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sarajevo, my love, Bosnia and Herzegovina, my love.

With love,

Filip Teodorescu, former Ambassador of Romania in Sarajevo (October 2011 – June 2016.)