Former international peace envoy in Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko told Austrian media that he believes the European Union will approve the opening of the accession talks with Bosnia, which is expected on Thursday (today) in the European Council summit. He said that the people deserve that but “those politicians who wish to weaken or destroy the state do not.”

In an article published by Kleine Zeitung, Inzko noted that the people deserve the accession talks but that the path to Europe will be “long and thorny.”

The Austrian diplomat, who served in Bosnia and Herzegovina as the international community's High Representative from 2009 – 2021, said that the future membership of the Balkan countries is in the interest of the Austrian security policy.

The majority of the Bosnians already feels like Europeans and wants the country to formally become a member of the European Union, he stressed and concluded: “So, let's move closer to each other.”