Croatian MP Tonino Picula was a guest at last night's Otvoreno on HRT and commented on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the perspective of the head of the Working Group for the Western Balkans in the European Parliament and with experience as foreign minister. “This is indeed a very serious crisis, perhaps the most serious in which B&H has found itself since the signing of the Dayton-Paris Agreement. It seems to me that the messages are good, but the real question is what will happen in the near future. These are not isolated events that have caused alarm in the international community. that he will probably continue with his policy. However, what is a real question mark is how the international community will react to the current situation in B&H,” he said.
“In my opinion, by following developments here in the European institutions, it seems that the EU does not have a clear answer at the moment, nor does the entire international community, what to do if the situation in B&H escalates. 7-8 years caused by lack of vision, slowing down of EU enlargement policy and the Western Balkans has been missed, various authoritarian tendencies have strengthened, the EU has gained rivals in this area who share neither its values ??nor interests and it seems to me that the time has come for B&H to be very high on forums that discuss not only B&H but also the EU's policy towards that area and the EU cannot act as if it is some kind of incidental behavior or something that has no deeper roots,” Picula said.
Picula said that the European Union does not have a clearly articulated position on what needs to be done in B&H, ie how to speed up, which is often said, the transition of BiH from its Dayton phase to the Brussels phase.
“The problem is not only in BiH, where it is difficult to reach an agreement, the EU is too focused on its own future and the problems that have multiplied in the EU. according to the European Council, which sits the prime ministers of the member states, each of whom opposes the enlargement policy until the EU consolidated itself. This does not mean that the EU, especially the European Commission and the European Parliament, have given up on B&H,” he concluded.
