The election law continues to be a condition for Bosnia and Herzegovina's further progress in the process of European integration, but there is still time for that until local elections, to be held this autumn, European Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhely said on Wednesday.

“The electoral law continues to be a condition that was, already, made very clear, back in December 2022 by the Council. Of course, we would like to see the integrity amendments going forward still before the local elections,” Varhely said in an interview with a group of reporters, including those from the European Newsroom, a joint project of 23 European news agencies, including Hina.

Asked why the report which the European Commission published on Tuesday and in which it recommended launching accession talks with BiH does not mention the amendment of the BiH election law, Varhely said that the EC's task was to make an assessment of the progress made until March while the election law required more time, however, work on it was progressing well and there was still time until the local elections.

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The conclusions adopted by the General Affairs Council in December 2022, suggesting that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be given candidate status, call on the country's political leaders to swiftly implement the agreement reached on 12 June 2022 in Brussels and bring to a close the constitutional and electoral reform.

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Under the agreement, BiH political leaders committed to implementing the election reform as well as a limited constitutional reform to ensure full compliance with rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and the BiH Constitutional Court and recommendations of the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR and GRECO.

Varhely on Wednesday presented the report on BiH to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) who are preparing a meeting of the General Affairs Council for next Tuesday, which will discuss the EC's recommendation on the launching of accession talks with BiH. The matter will also be discussed by EU leaders at a summit to be held at the end of next week. A positive decision requires the consent of all member states.

Varhely said that the discussion with COREPER members was very positive and that he hoped for a positive outcome.

He also said that he could not speak about possible dates for the start of the accession talks.

“If the proposal that we have submitted (is)… adopted by the European Council, we will start preparing immediately the negotiating framework, and then, whenever we are ready with it, we'll put it to the Council,” he said, adding that it was difficult to say how much time the Council would need for a consensus as the decision must be unanimous.

The negotiating framework is a key document that defines principles, goals and the way accession negotiations are conducted and is a precondition for their opening.

The Commissioner also underlined the positive changes that had been happening in BiH since the 2022 elections, noting that the country's coalition government was a functioning political structure involving representatives of the three constituent peoples, who have agreed coalitions at all levels of government.

Five years ago, the BiH Federation entity did not have a government or a budget, he said, a reference to the Bosniak-Croat entity.

The EC does not like the rhetoric used by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and they raise concerns, he said. “But the representatives of the Republika Srpska are in the institutions. They are part of the decision-making. They are also part of the delivery of all the reforms because of which the country can now move forward,” Varhely said.