If Bosnia and Herzegovina gets the green light to start the accession talks with the European Union on Thursday, we have the right to be truly proud because we have gone from being the country that lagged behind the most in the segment of European integration to becoming the country that went the fastest from the candidate status to the opening of negotiations, Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic told Fena news agency.

A day before the session of the European Council, which is set to vote on whether the EU will open the accession talks with BiH or not, Konakovic said that we could be “moderately optimistic” and that we should not be afraid of what some call “additional conditions”.

“Things are going well on the ground,” Konakovic said, expressing hope that the positive recommendation of the European Commission will be respected.

In this case, he noted, “we will essentially be the champions of the European integration of the region, because we have gone from obtaining candidate status to the opening of negotiations in the shortest possible time.”

If Bosnia gets a green light on Thursday, he emphasised, it will be the official start of the negotiations and the screening will start immediately.

“If this happens, it will be a great success and a reason for celebration in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Everything that the EU asks of us before defining the negotiation framework is asked of us anyway. There will be no additional conditions,” said the FM, adding that there is no reason for skepticism, because everything that follows is a technical matter.