Members of the Joint Collegium of both houses of the PA BiH held a meeting with members of the Delegation of the European Parliament in the Parliamentary Committee for Stabilization and Association between the EU and BiH

Members of the Joint Collegium of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PA BiH) met today in Sarajevo, on the eve of the 5th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for Stabilization and Association between the European Union (EU) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (POSP), with members of the Delegation of the European Parliament to the POSP led by Davor Ivo Stier.

The Deputy Speakers of the PA BiH House of Representatives, Dr. Denis Zvizdić and Marinko Čavara, the Deputy Speakers of the PA BiH House of Peoples, Dr. Nikola Špirić and Kemal Ademović, and the Chair of the Croatian People's Club in the PA BiH House of Peoples, Marina Pendeš, on behalf of the Speaker of the House of Peoples, Dr. Dragan Čović, welcomed to the members of the Delegation of the European Parliament, and confirmed a full consensus of all political forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the European path and the process of joining our country to the EU.

Expressing satisfaction with the intensification of work and the regular holding of POSP meetings in the last year, the members of the European Parliament Delegation emphasized that in the European Parliament, as well as in other European institutions, today there is an excellent climate and support for the enlargement process, which, as they said, is an opportunity which Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries of the Western Balkans should not miss. They expressed their full support for the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina and said that it is important that the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina do not waste time and speed up the process of meeting the requirements and passing reform laws so that our country gets the date of the start of membership negotiations as soon as possible and opens that process. They also said that, in addition to supporting the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the role of the Delegation of the European Parliament is to promote our country and its European path as one of the key priorities in the activities of the European Parliament.

Saying that without a stable Western Balkans there is no EU stability, the members of the European Parliament Delegation also announced the upcoming appointment of a new European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement, whose election, they said, will be a new proof of the commitment of the EU institutions to the process of enlargement to the countries of the Western Balkans.

In their addresses, members of the Joint Collegium of both houses of the PA BiH talked about the significant strides that Bosnia and Herzegovina made in the accession process in the last few years, about the need to encourage internal dialogue on open issues, and to strengthen trust on BiH's path to the EU, as well as about the need to in cooperation with the EU institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the media, undertake a campaign that would promote European values ​​and benefits that member states in the immediate neighbourhood have had since joining the EU.

The members of the Joint Collegium of both houses of the PA BiH especially thanked the Republic of Croatia and the EU institutions for the urgent financial aid they sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the natural disaster caused by floods and landslides. (end)