Visits to Russia will not help anyone to become the European Union (EU) member state and this is an invitation to visit Brussels more, European Parliament's (EP) Rapporteur for Bosnia and Herzegovina Cristian Dan Preda told media in Sarajevo.

Following a civil society roundtable on the EU integration, Preda said the failure to form an EU-Bosnia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee was just one of the examples of blocked processes in the country.

According to him, parliamentarians representing Bosnia's Republika Srpska (RS) entity in the State Parliaments are among the culprits for that.

“I openly said that in the yesterday talks that delegates from Republika Srpska in the past Parliament's term opposed the establishing of the joint parliamentary committee. That's only one example. The second one is blocking the process out of ignorance. All names of those blocking the process are known,” said Preda, who arrived Thursday for a two-day visit to Bosnia.

The EP Committee on Foreign Affairs expressed concern in a discussion on Bosnia early December last year over the failure of the State Parliament to agree on the rules of procedure for the said committee, which poses an obstacle to the establishment of this body. 

Attempts to meet Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic, senior RS officials in the previous term, were unsuccessful Preda said.

“It is easier to go visit (Vladimir) Putin and Russia. Visits to Russia will not help anyone become a member state of the European Union. This is an invitation for them to come to Brussels more,” said European parliamentarian.

In a meeting with members of the State three-member Presidency members, Bosniak Sefik Dzaferovic and Croat Zeljko Komsic, Preda urged the officials to convince the country's MPs to start working with the EU on Bosnia's path towards the membership.

Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik did not attend the meeting.