The HR/EUSR Valentin Inzko has today in Berlin addressed the European Integration Committee of the German Bundestag and informed the members of the Committee about the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He emphasized that the goal of the international community to make BiH a peaceful, viable state on the course for European integration has not changed but that the international community needs an adequate strategy to effectively address the challenges.
HR/EUSR Inzko informed the Committee that the reason for the current stalemate in BiH lies in the fact that different sides in BiH have diametrically opposed views about how the country should look and that it is difficult to reconcile these views and find common ground.
“I believe that the European Union must take the current challenges in BiH seriously and act proactively in order to reverse the current political trends” – said HR/EUSR Inzko, adding that “a failure to do so could have the potential to deepen the stalemate and to increase the political and security challenges.”
According to HR/EUSR, the EU and its partners need to have both, a short and a long term strategy for BiH and the specific problems the country has. As for the immediate priorities, Inzko told the Committee that the EU must focus on resolving the issues which would lead towards the transition of OHR and progress on the EU agenda. He also stressed that it is necessary to make it clear to the political leaders in BiH that the current challenges to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the High Representative’s powers are unacceptable and should stop.