Bosnia and Herzegovina will be a better place when its politicians focus on nuts-and-bolts policies, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, wrote in an article that appeared in Euroblic today on the occasion of Europe Day.
“Today, the 57th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, which launched the process that culminated in the creation of the European Union, it is worth considering how the European Union’s founders turned a grand idea into a functioning reality,” Mr Schwarz-Schilling wrote, pointing out that they were intensely practical.
“At first, they focused on the joint production and management of coal and steel,” the High Representative and EU Special Representative continued. “They had their eye on preventing another European war – but their actual policies were rooted in delivering tangible benefits as fast as possible to citizens – and in 1950 the citizens of Western Europe were desperate for improvements in living conditions that were as harsh as in Bosnia and Herzegovina today.”
In the article in Republika Srpska’s best-selling newspaper, Mr Schwarz-Schilling suggested a focus on rationally organised institutions, better coordinated planning and management of resources, a single economic space, improvements to the country’s business environment and serious and sustained job creation.
“It worked for Europe and it will work for Bosnia and Herzegovina – and it is exactly what is needed in order to turn Bosnia and Herzegovina from an aspiring EU member state into an actual one,” he concluded.
The text of the article can be accessed at https://www.ohr.int/ and http://eusrbih.org/ .