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EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “The country shows that it can meet the accession criteria”

Photo: Jean-Francois Badias / AP

According to the EU Commission, Bosnia-Herzegovina is ready to start negotiations on accession to the European Union.

»Of course, further progress is required in order to be accepted into our Union.

But the country shows that it can meet the accession criteria and supports the aspirations of its citizens to become part of our family," said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The EU Commission will decide to recommend that the member states start accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Von der Leyen cited, among other things, progress in combating money laundering and terrorist financing as well as in managing migration as the reason for the step.

In addition, the country has fully aligned itself with the EU's foreign and security policy, which is particularly important "in times of geopolitical upheaval."

“Since we granted the country candidate status, it has made impressive steps towards us,” explained von der Leyen.

»In just over a year, greater progress has been made than in over ten years.«

How long it will take to join is unclear

Bosnia-Herzegovina was included by the EU in the group of candidate countries for accession in 2022.

The reason for this was also the concern that the Balkan country with around 3.2 million inhabitants could otherwise orientate itself towards Russia.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has been waiting for EU membership for many years.

States such as Austria in particular had recently insisted on promising Bosnia-Herzegovina progress in the accession process.

The EU had already promised the country the prospect of joining in 2003, and in 2016 it officially submitted an application for membership.

Last December, EU leaders agreed to begin negotiations on membership of the European Union as soon as further reforms were completed.

They are now expected to decide at their spring summit on March 21st and 22nd whether to accept the EU Commission's recommendation.

If the vote is yes, the country would be as far along in the EU accession process as Ukraine and Moldova - the start of accession negotiations with these two states has already been decided.

How long it will take from the start of accession talks to EU accession is completely unclear.

Turkey, for example, became an EU candidate in 1999.

There is no automatic EU membership for a candidate country.

Of the six Western Balkan states, only the Republic of Kosovo is now not a candidate for membership.

However, the country has already submitted an application for membership.

For Europe's youngest state, 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 is that five EU countries - Spain, Romania, Slovakia, Greece and Cyprus - do not recognize Kosovo.

czl/dpa