The meeting with the European Commission was agreed earlier, and it will be an opportunity to discuss Bosnia’s EU accession process, not its NATO path, Bosnia’s three-member Presidency Chairman, Milorad Dodik, said commenting the upcoming meeting which will take place at the end of January, in Brussels.

“We will discuss Bosnia’s EU accession process and its slow-down which was caused by the issues related to the country’s NATO path. The EU accession is now being linked to the NATO accession process, and the Membership Action Plan and the government creation,” Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik said.

Dodik is also the leader of the strongest party in the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), who strongly oppose Bosnia’s NATO accession.

Namely, Dodik and the Council of Ministers’ Chairman-elect Zoran Tegeltija said they would not deal with Bosnia’s NATO accession process in their mandate. This caused the other two Presidency members, the Bosniak Sefik Dzaferovic and Croat Zeljko Komsic to withdraw their support for Tegeltija, who is also the SNSD member until the Council of Ministers ensures a majority which would unblock Bosnia’s NATO path.

Dodik noted there is a democratic legitimacy issue in the country because the general election winners are unable to form the government. This, he said, is evidence of the State’s inefficiency.

“I think the meeting can be used to talk about Bosnia’s EU accession process, and that its NATO path won’t even be mentioned,” he added.

The Serb Presidency member said there is a consensus in the country about its EU membership and that State institutions should not be blocked because that blocks Bosnia’s EU accession process.

He refused to comment on the possible outcome of the talks “considering they are travelling to Brussels with ‘negative luggage,’ which are the many issues existent in the country.”