After the 2014 German-British initiative that focused on economic reforms, Bosnia’s path toward EU and NATO membership might get a new push from a US-German partnership, Bosnian officials said on Sunday.

According to the leader of the Independent Bloc party, Senad Sepic, US and German officials are showing readiness for more engagement in social and political developments in the Western Balkans.

“It is very important that the United States and Germany go together, that they have a joint position toward the Western Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Sepic said.

Every time they did, Bosnia experienced progress, he explained.

“We do have common interests: stability, development and a European perspective for the countries of the Western Balkans,” he said. “Those are the interests of most of the citizens living in all the countries here.”

The international community is not speaking with one voice for quite some time, and Bosnia is often an arena for great powers to flex their muscles, said Sasa Magazinović, a lawmaker and head of the Main Board of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

“But we are also aware of the fact that internally we do not have the capacity to overcome the obstacles on our path toward the EU and NATO, particularly to change our constitution which has been in focus throguhout the past 10 years, and that we need help from the outside,” he said.

The geostrategic and geopolitical interests of great powers are intertwined in this region, but German and U.S. interests are compatible, primarily the respect for fundamental European values, said Slaven Kovacevic, an expert in geopolitics.

“I expect the United States to focus on the rejection of the ethnic model in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the transformation of the political system of this country into something more effective regarding the work of state institutions,” Kovacevic said.

“In this sense, the Americans are trying to move Bosnia and Herzegovina towards NATO,” he added.

Apart from focusing on economic reforms like the British-German initiative from 2014 did in its effort to bring the country closer to the EU, the new initiative that is still being developed will also focus on political reforms and on solving open political issues in the region.