Despite a recent European Commission proposal to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of an EU candidate country, this is unlikely to happen at a key EU summit in December, despite lobbying by Austria and Slovenia, Klix.ba website reported. While the European Commission recommended granting candidate status to the country as part of its annual enlargement, the website said the main opponents are France and the Netherlands, whose views are also shared by Germany.
According to the website, the three believe that granting the candidate status now would be an undeserved reward for the outgoing Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities, who did precious little to advance the country’s EU ambitions.
Another problem, the website said, is the president of the Serb half of BiH, secessionist leader Milorad Dodik, who openly supports Russia and Vladimir Putin and has been sanctioned by Washington for undermining the country’s peace and democratic progress.
The three EU opponents would also like to see the definitive outcome of the messy parliamentary election held in BiH on 2 October, with a functioning government in place, before committing to the country’s EU perspective, the website said.
