Zvizdić signed the Protocol to the SAA

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Denis Zvizdić, together with the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico and the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, signed the Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement today in Brussels, in order to take into account the accession of a new member state to the European Union, in this case the Republic of Croatia, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

Chairman Zvizdić thanked the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico for his friendly support of BiH's European integration and for encouraging the enlargement process during the Slovak Republic's presidency of the European Union.

Chairman Zvizdić also thanked Commissioner Hahn and his associates for the very constructive role of the European Commission in the EU integration process of Bosnia and Herzegovina and said that these negotiations showed that BiH has the professional and technical capacities to conduct negotiations.

By signing the Protocol to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina has completed very productive and visible progress on the path of EU integration. The signing of the Protocol is an integral part of the process of Bosnia and Herzegovina's integration into the European Union, and the finalisation of this process was one of the three key conditions that BiH had to meet to ensure the continuation and intensification of the European integration process. Together with economic reforms, the rule of law and the fight against all forms of crime, terrorism and corruption, as well as strengthening regional cooperation, this process was the zero priority of the current convocation of the Council of Ministers of BiH.

The Protocol is expected to enter into force on February 1, 2017.