European affairs ministers from the 27 EU nations gathered Tuesday to discuss a recommendation from the bloc’s executive arm to grant Bosnia candidate member status.
Despite continuing criticism of the way the Balkan nation is run, Bosnia could make a significant step toward the wealthy club if it gets unanimous support from member countries before EU leaders hold a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The ministers are looking at Bosnia’s candidacy a week after EU leaders gave more concrete signs to six Western Balkans countries aspiring to join the EU that they have a future place in the bloc. At a summit in Albania, the EU “reconfirmed its full and unequivocal commitment to the European Union membership perspective of the Western Balkans” and called for the acceleration of accession talks with the membership hopefuls.
The European Commission recommended granting Bosnia candidate member status in October, more than six years after the country formally applied to join and nearly three decades since it emerged from a 1992-95 interethnic war that left more than 100,000 people dead.
The commission can only advise which nations it thinks should become EU candidates, and all existing member countries must agree unanimously to approve the step for it to happen.
Once a country becomes a candidate, it still can take years before admission to the club takes place. The EU last admitted a new member — Croatia, which is also part of the Balkans — in 2013. The path toward membership is a lengthy process, as countries must meet a detailed host of economic and political conditions.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said in October that Bosnia needs reforms on issues that include the judiciary, battling corruption, and constitutional and electoral changes. Little progress on those issues has been made in recent years.
While Bosnia expressed a desire to join the EU starting in 2003, the country’s ethnic leaders have so far proven unwilling to put aside their differences and implement necessary reforms. In fact, the the staunchly pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, has increasingly threatened to separate Bosnia’s Serb-run part from the rest of the country.
