Listen to the news

Joining the EU and NATO, as well as the stability of the region, are priorities in the foreign policy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konaković in an interview with BTA before his official visit to Bulgaria.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina has clear priorities in its foreign policy, above all regarding accession to the European Union, along with a focus on NATO integration.

The stability of the region, due to the specifics of the Balkans, we have also identified as one of the key processes and we hope that we will achieve certain progress in this area as well," Konaković pointed out.

In February 2016, Bosnia and Herzegovina applied for EU membership and in December 2022 was granted the status of a candidate country for EU membership, conditional on it taking recommended steps to strengthen the rule of law, fight corruption and organized crime. crime, migration management and fundamental rights.

The EU will help Bosnia and Herzegovina to deal with the migrant crisis

In 2018, NATO approved the activation of a Membership Action Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but no timelines were given for the country's eventual acceptance into the alliance.

The initiative envisages NATO providing advice, assistance and practical support tailored to the individual needs of countries wishing to join the organisation.

According to Konaković, a major obstacle in Bosnia's NATO integration process is that the political representatives of Republika Srpska, which is part of Bosnia, do not support the country's membership in the alliance.

After the 1992-95 inter-ethnic war in Bosnia, under the terms of the US-brokered Dayton Peace Agreement, the country was divided into two semi-autonomous parts - the Republika Srpska, populated mainly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they live Bosnian Muslims - Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats.

"The main obstacle is in one part of the political scene, which does not look at the NATO integration process in the same way.

Namely, in Republika Srpska, the representatives of the political scene do not look at this process in the same way as the rest of the political entities in the country do", Konaković points out.

The two constituent parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina are also linked by common state-level institutions, including the judiciary, army, security services and tax administration, but at the same time have their own governments, parliaments and police.

The leaders of Republika Srpska are of the opinion that Bosnia and Herzegovina should remain militarily neutral and are opposed to the country's membership in the alliance.

The Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs adds that this is the biggest problem, especially from the point of view of the speed of the country's accession to NATO, and notes that the previous authorities made a decision from "NATO integration" Bosnia and Herzegovina "to pass in the field of "cooperation with NATO".

NATO membership

Bosnia and Herzegovina

EU membership