European Commission proposes granting BiH EU candidate status

SARAJEVO - The European Commission on Wednesday recommended that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) be granted European Union (EU) candidate status on the understanding that further reforms are taken, the commission said in a press release.

The recommendation will then be considered by the European Council before BiH can join Albania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine as an official candidate country.

As all 27 commissioners agreed on the recommendation, the EU will continue to closely monitor BiH's expected progress to fulfil the 14 priority reforms involving judiciary, human rights, public administration, election law, anti-corruption and others, said Johann Sattler, head of the EU Delegation to BiH, during a press conference on Wednesday in Sarajevo.

BiH will continue to fulfil all key legislative and institutional priority reforms for the country's sake and for joining the EU family, said Zoran Tegeltija, chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH.

In 2016, BiH submitted its application to join the EU, which was adopted by the European Commission in 2019 with the 14 priority reforms the country has to fulfil identified. Enditem