The executive arm of the European Union will recommend that member states start negotiations on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to the EU, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is among six nations from the region — alongside Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia — who are at different stages of the EU accession process following a period of wars and crises in the 1990s.
Their membership in the EU had been stalled for years. But after the start of the conflict in Ukraine, EU officials became more active in trying to persuade them to become members of the union.
Von der Leyen told EU lawmakers on Tuesday:
We have realised that it is not enough to just wait for the Western Balkans to move closer to us. It is not enough to say that the door is open. We must also take responsibility, and support their path towards our Union in any possible way.
Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted EU candidate status in 2022. To join the EU, candidates must undergo a lengthy process to align their laws and standards with those of the bloc and prove that their institutions and economies meet democratic norms.
