About 50 deputies from 16 EU national parliaments, including Croatia, have supported an initiative for the EU to begin accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they think would be an incentive for the country's progress.

At the last meeting in Strasbourg, the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) managed to rally the support of many colleagues, including Croatian deputies Davor Ivo Stier, Domagoj Hajduković, Zdravka Bušić and Marijana Petir.

The European Commission is expected to publish a 2022 progress report on BiH next month and say if the country complied with the 14 priorities it was given, including electoral reform.

That assessment, along with other political criteria, should serve as the basis for the European Council's decision in December on whether to approve the opening of accession negotiations. Members of the BiH parliament and many officials in BiH are lobbying for that to happen.

We firmly believe the opening of accession negotiations with BiH would represent a clear signal of encouragement and support for progress, says a document signed also by many members of parliament from non-EU countries. Such a decision at this key moment would also contribute to peace and stability in the region as well as to peace, stability and security in all of Europe, the document says.

The BiH Parliamentary Assembly Delegation to the PACE said in a press release it also expected the support of the EU member states’ governments, whose heads will decide on greenlighting the opening of accession negotiations with BiH.