The EU summit agreed to start accession negotiations with the Western Balkan state of Bosnia-Herzegovina. EU Council President Charles Michel announced this on Platform X in the evening. The country belongs to the European family, he wrote. “Now the hard work must continue steadily.”
The approval was evident at the EU summit in Brussels. Not only Germany and Austria, but also the Netherlands, which is usually skeptical when it comes to enlargement, agreed to the EU Commission’s recommendation. However, the Western Balkan country must meet further criteria so that a negotiating framework can be agreed.
The EU Commission had supported the start of talks with Bosnia-Herzegovina because the country had recently made significant progress in domestic political reforms after years of standstill. The conflict with the Serbian republic in particular has caused tension in the multi-ethnic state for years and prevented reforms.