Bosnia’s Annual National Programme (ANP) for 2018-2019, a precondition for the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP), was taken off the Tuesday Council of Ministers’ session agenda for the fourth consecutive time.

The State Foreign Minister, Igor Crnadak, asked that the ANP, which was proposed by the State NATO Integration Commission, be removed from the agenda and the State Security Minister Dragan Mektic said that this document should be returned to the Commission because the formal conditions for the Document’s adoption have not been met.

According to him, the NATO Integration Commission did not finish its job concerning the Document.

The ANP is a precondition for the activation of Bosnia's Membership Action Plan (MAP) for NATO after the Alliance approved its activation for the country. But, even though Bosnia adopted a number of laws and regulations saying it will fulfil all the preconditions for the MAP, Bosnian Serbs stand against it.

When it comes to Bosnia’s NATO membership, its three largest ethnic groups stand divided on the issue. Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks support the country’s accession, while Bosnian Serbs are strictly against it, saying they will follow Serbia’s lead on this.

The Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity's National Assembly even adopted a Declaration stipulating the entity will remain militarily neutral and that they will not join any military alliance.

The Commission’s session, set for December 20 last year, was never held due to a lack of quorum. Namely, RS officials never showed up at the session, after they met with the RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic, who asked them not to attend the Commission’s work.

The Commission, composed of 20 representatives, had the necessary quorum to hold the meeting and discuss sending the ANP to Brussels, Belgium, with which Bosnia’s MAP would be activated, but not to make any decisions.

Therefore, the State Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, said, Tuesday, that the Commission did not complete its job, because it never formally decided to send the ANP to further procedure.