Bosnia and Herzegovina and European Integration : Obstacles and Challenges

Abstract

This volume brings together several scholars, in order to examine the progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) towards EU membership from a series of perspectives. As with most things in BiH, fulfilling this stated ambition does not come easily, and it remains one of the many vexing issues facing the country. However, unlike just about all other major political choices facing the country, this one enjoys, at least on the face of it, support across all major ethnicities and political parties. According to a 2018 survey, EU accession enjoyed support from 75% of the population, including majorities of all three major ethnicities (International Republican Institute, 2018). This stands in marked contrast to potential membership of NATO, which is sharply dividing the country along ethnic lines (see chapter 8 of this volume). Like all other Western Balkan states, BiH was given the prospect of EU membership through the Thessaloniki Summit Declaration in 2003 (European Commission, 2003). If the countries desire membership, it was made clear, they will be eligible once they meet all relevant criteria. This promise was later re-affirmed at the Brdo Summit in 2021 (European Council, 2021). BiH, like all others, would not get an easy pass, but the road was laid out ahead if the countries were willing to follow it. The country subsequently negotiated its Stability and Association Agreement (SAA), which was signed in 2008. The agreement still serves as the foundation of EU-BiH relations, entailing a free trade agreement as well as support for extensive legal, administrative, institutional, and economic reforms, which would bring BiH closer to the EU, and prepare it for eventual membership negotiations. Although the agreement was provisionally applied from the time of its signing, it did not enter into full force until 2015, when the EU froze it pending major political reforms in BiH. In particular, the EU made improvements in the treatment of people not belonging to the three major ethnicities – Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats – a precondition for upgrading relations. This precondition was partially abandoned – without BiH’s compliance – and having had the SAA ratified, BiH submitted its application for full membership in February 2016.