(CNA) European Union nations agreed today to grant "candidate status" to Bosnia-Herzegovina, diplomats said, setting the unstable Balkan nation on a long road to membership.

Agence France-Presse reported that Russia's attack on Ukraine has injected new vitality into the eastward expansion of the European Union, which has been stagnant for many years.

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The EU fears that other powers, such as Russia and China, could extend their influence into the Balkans if would-be members of the bloc are frustrated.

After the European Commission recommended in October that Bosnia-Herzegovina's accession process be launched, European affairs ministers from the member states met in Brussels and agreed to give it accession candidate status. It was formally signed at the summit meeting on the 15th.

The political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina has long caused doubts, and the population of 3 million has faced ethnic division since the devastating war 30 years ago. It is still divided into a Serb entity and a Muslim-Crocian federation. (Moslem-Croat Federation), but the two are only maintained by a weak central government agency.

The 1995 Dayton Agreement, which ended the Bosnian civil war conflict of the 1990s, largely failed to provide a framework for political progress and left the country with a dysfunctional administrative system.

The Executive Committee of the European Union has proposed that Bosnia-Herzegovina must fulfill 14 reform priorities before it can enter the next step to formally launch accession negotiations.

Oliver Varhelyi, European Commissioner for Neighborhood Enlargement, told Bosnia-Herzegovina it was now at a "crucial moment" in joining the EU.

The EU has said the Serb entity, Republika Srpska, has obstructed state institutions and "virtually paralyzed" the reform process amid the impasse.

The Serb leader called for closer relations with Russia, and the nationalist Serbian leader Milorad Dodik once vowed that if the membership of the EU means that Bosnia will become more centralized, it will obstruct the promotion of the EU membership. Overshadowed by Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Bosnia-Herzegovina will join the ranks of seven other countries for candidate status: Turkey, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine.

The accession process could take years as Brussels rigorously assesses reforms in candidate countries.

Related processes may also stall, as was the case with Turkey's accession case.

Ukraine and Moldova are the latest candidates for membership, having achieved the status in June, four months after Russia sent troops to Ukraine.

Kosovo has also announced its intention to apply for EU membership by the end of the year.

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