Bosnia and Herzegovina can join the rest of the region in a definitive move away from a period of stagnation to a period of reform and political cooperation, High Representative and EU Special Representative Valentin Inzko said in New York yesterday where he was presenting his fourth report to the UN Security Council.
As the 15th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement approaches, Bosnia and Herzegovina can look back on real achievements – but the last four years have not matched the progress of the preceding 11 years. He said this was because “nationalist agendas” have started to prevail over “cooperation and compromise.”
The HR/EUSR called for an end to “verbal attacks against the state” and an end to policies designed to prevent BiH institutions from serving citizens, particularly at a time when “the economic and social situation remains dire for hundreds of thousands of people.”
“The choice Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing is not whether it survives as a State or whether it is divided,” he said. The choice is “whether to integrate and reform, and in doing so join the European Union and NATO, or whether to choose stagnation and isolation.”
He stressed that “Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are not subject for discussion” and that “only Bosnia and Herzegovina – as one country – has a future in the EU and NATO.”
In addition to adopting reforms to tackle the economic crisis, the HR/EUSR said that the new governments must take the findings of the European Commission Progress Report seriously. They also need to agree on constitutional reform to ensure that Bosnia and Herzegovina is “fully functional and sustainable, and able to deal efficiently with the challenges of Euro-Atlantic integration.”