Sarajevo: The European Commission may approve on Tuesday the start of formal negotiations on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to the European Union, Politico reported, citing two EU officials and one diplomat.
The European Commission will propose the so-called negotiating frameworks that will establish the basic principles and guidelines for discussions on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to the EU, the report said on Monday.
An agreement to start negotiations, which must be approved by all 27 EU member states, is unlikely to happen before the European Parliament elections in June, the report added.
At the same time, for a number of countries, including Austria, it is necessary that progress in Bosnia’s accession process keep pace with the accession of Moldova and Ukraine, the newspaper reported.
At their summit in Brussels on December 15, 2022, the EU leaders officially granted candidature status to Bosnia and Herzegovina, following a relevant recommendation from the European Commission. However, at the summit in December 2023, the EU leaders failed to agree on the immediate launch of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that the country should first achieve “the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria.”
