Brussels, 21 March 2024 (MIA) – The European Council has just decided to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, European Council President Charles Michel says on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Your place is in our European family," European Council President Charles Michel, responsible for brokering the unanimous approval, said on social media platform X.

"Today’s decision is a key step forward on your EU path. Now the hard work needs to continue so Bosnia and Herzegovina steadily advances, as your people want," Michel added.

According to the MIA’s Brussels correspondent, the decision was made based on the written report of the European Commission recommending the start of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Before the start of the Summit, most European leaders expressed support for the European Commission's recommendation for opening accession negotiations.

On the other hand, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated that the Netherlands will support the proposal to start the negotiations, but before agreeing on the negotiating framework, the country must fulfill all necessary conditions outlined in the EC Report.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina has made progress to support the opening of negotiations, but the European Commission was very clear that Bosnia and Herzegovina still has much to do to actually start the negotiations according to the agreed negotiating framework," Rutte added.

The European Newsroom (enr), which includes MIA, spoke to European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi last week. He said that European Commission has proposed to the EU Council to make a decision to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and expressed hope that the EU leaders will make a positive decision at today's Summit.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to our assessment, has reached the necessary level of compliance with [EU] membership criteria. And this is why we have proposed to start the accession negotiations,” he said.

In 2022, EU leaders granted Bosnia and Herzegovina EU candidate status. Várhelyi explained that, since then, the country has made significant progress in a number of fundamental criteria necessary for the start of accession negotiations.

Photo: MIA archive