Lajčák: EU Must Be Ready For Lead Role in BiH

Although Bosnia and Herzegovina has made “significant progress” during the last six months, BiH politics is “still dominated by the nationalist agenda,” the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Miroslav Lajčák, said in Berlin during a meeting with German Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier today.

The HR/EUSR briefed Vice Chancellor Steinmeier on BiH’s progress in implementing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU and its progress in meeting the objectives laid out by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) for OHR’s transition.

“On paper only two of the five objectives determined by the PIC remain outstanding,” the HR/EUSR said. “What remains to be done is to find a workable solution to the issue of BiH State property and ensure that Brcko District is fully integrated in the BiH constitutional structure.”

However, the HR/EUSR stressed that the signing of the SAA had not yet created the “sea change in political attitudes that we had all hoped for.”

Lajčák stressed that the EU must be ready to take the lead role in BiH after OHR’s transition as “the EU will contribute to improving lives of the citizens who are looking for a normal European life”, he said

After meeting Vice Chancellor Steinmeier he met with a number of senior German government officials and addressed a conference on the Western Balkans attended by over 40 German ambassadors.