The Speaker of the House of Peoples, Dr. Dragan Čović spoke with the Political Director for South Europe of the Federal Foreign Office

 
“Today, the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dr. Dragan Čović met in Sarajevo with the Political Director for South Europe of the Germany Federal Foreign Office Graf Lambsdorff.
Speaker Čović informed Lambsdorff about the functioning of the legislative and the executive branches of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the current political situation, the process of government reconstruction at all levels, economic opportunities, reform processes, and the priorities and tasks which the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina face on its path toward Euro-Atlantic Integration. During the meeting, special attention was devoted to issues of constitutional reform and activities, as well as solutions and modalities for implementation of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the “Sejdić and Finci against BiH” case.

In the context of the direction and activities undertaken in the Euro-Atlantic integration processes, Dr. Čović emphasized that he encourages the agreement which was been reached at a high-level meeting in Brussels, regarding the EU Road Map for the submission of a membership application.

Speaker Čović emphasized that without constitutional reform, which should guarantee equality for the constituent peoples, it is unrealistic to expect significant improvements in the Euro-Atlantic Integration process, as well as a functional Bosnia and Herzegovina. Accordingly, there is no alternative - Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs to the EU and that is the priority, and everyone should be engaged in making improvements.
In that context, the importance of intensified co-operation, continuous dialogue, interpersonal agreements with respect for different opinions, and especially efforts to submit the application for EU membership before the end of the year were emphasized. In addition, one of the topics was politico-economic opportunities and relations in the region. The collocutors expressed readiness for talks to be continued and for future co-operation. Accordingly, “they expressed their satisfaction with the meeting,” reported the Cabinet of the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (end)