EU makes Bosnia-Herzegovina a candidate for accession Executions in Iran: German politicians take over sponsorship – first partial success

The European Union has officially accepted the Balkan country of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a candidate for accession. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the other heads of state and government of the EU countries made a corresponding decision on Thursday at a summit meeting in Brussels, as confirmed by an EU official and several diplomats.

The European ministers of the EU countries had already made a corresponding recommendation on Tuesday. The reason was also the concern that Bosnia-Herzegovina would otherwise be able to orient itself more towards Russia or China.

Already in June, on the recommendation of the Commission, the EU countries had officially nominated Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for EU membership. However, accession negotiations cannot begin until reform requirements are met. This procedure should now also apply to the Balkan country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has a population of some 3.3 million.

In the course of the decision for Ukraine and Moldova, EU countries, such as Austria in particular, had insisted that Bosnia and Herzegovina also follow this path. The country was given the prospect of joining the EU in 2003 and officially applied for membership in 2016. However, in 2019 it was decided that the country would not be granted candidate status until it had fulfilled 14 reform requirements. The EU Commission recently emphasized that meeting the conditions is still crucial for the start of accession negotiations.

Of the six Western Balkan countries, only the Republic of Kosovo is currently not a candidate for accession. However, the country officially applied for membership of the European Union this week. For the youngest state in Europe, it was a rather symbolic act: EU membership is currently not within reach for the country, which has been independent since 2008. The main obstacle to rapprochement with the EU is that five EU countries – Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Greece and Cyprus – do not recognize Kosovo.

The country, now inhabited almost exclusively by Albanians, used to belong to Yugoslavia or Serbia. After repression by the Serbian security forces against the Albanian civilian population, NATO bombed targets in what was then Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in the spring of 1999. Serbian security forces and state organs left Kosovo. The UN mission UNMIK took over the administration and establishment of Kosovo institutions.

In February 2008, the Kosovo parliament declared independence. More than 100 countries, including Germany, but not Russia, China, Serbia and the five EU countries recognized the new state. To this day, Serbia has not relinquished its claim to the territory of Kosovo. At the same time, it repeatedly causes tensions in the north of the country, which is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Serbs. (sda/dpa)