Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Borjana Kristo sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, in which she stated that BiH has made visible and significant progress, especially on harmonizing its foreign policy positions with the European Union, improving the rule of law, fighting corruption, strengthening economic stability, and building an inclusive and functional BiH society.

“Let me take this opportunity to greet and once again sincerely thank you for your personal engagement, understanding, and continuous support for the European path of BiH. This gives us in Bosnia and Herzegovina hope, additionally motivates and obliges us to continue our joint dedicated work to achieve permanent stability, democracy and prosperity, and the achievement of our most important foreign policy goal, accession to the European Union,” the letter reads.

Kristo also reminded the European commissioner of the first jointly organized and co-chaired high-level political forum between Bosnia and the European Union on May 17, 2023, in Sarajevo, where together with the EU officials, leaders of the political parties in BiH were also present, as well as representatives of all levels of government.

The conclusions of the discussions conducted at the Forum formed a concrete agenda regarding the fulfilment of the given conditions and chronologically defined 31 priorities on BiH's European path.

“We pointed out to them the importance of adhering to European standards and took over the obligation to support reforms and strengthen cooperation through the coordination mechanism. It gives me great pleasure to briefly inform you about how we have made visible and significant progress, especially in fully harmonizing our foreign policy positions with the Union, improving the rule of law, fighting corruption, strengthening economic stability, and building an inclusive and functional BiH society. BiH's achieved progress undoubtedly testifies to our commitment to reforms and European values. It is also the result of our cooperation based on mutual understanding and trust,” Kristo wrote.

She stressed she believes that “our efforts on the reform path and the achieved progress will be recognized and visible in the report of the European Commission, which we expect in the middle of this week”.

“This report will be of crucial importance for our further steps towards European integration, therefore we hope for positive evaluations and recommendations to further dynamize our reform process following the positive results so far, justify the assigned candidate status, and open a new chapter on BiH's path towards the EU by starting pre-accession negotiations for full membership,” the letter states.

On this occasion, in the context of the fulfilment of 8+1 conditions and the implementation of 31 priorities from the agenda, Kristo once again pointed out the importance of implementing the electoral reform in BiH, which will implement the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH on the legitimate representation of constituent nations, as well as the judgment of the European Court for human rights, which according to the agreement of the political leaders in BiH “should be realized by the end of the year”.

“I believe that the fulfilment of this condition is essential for further progress and stability of BiH and will ensure the transparency and integrity of the electoral process in our country. Your Excellency, I will once again emphasize that BiH and all its institutions remain unquestionably committed to further implementation of reform processes and the fulfilment of 8 +1 conditions, i.e. 14 key priorities that the European Commission has set before us. I use this opportunity, per the conclusions of the High-Level Dialogue, to ask you to proceed with the continuation of the high-level political forum following the agreed deadline of six months, i.e. until the end of November and to organize the continuation of the dialogue in Brussels. We in Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to work tirelessly and do everything to achieve our European aspirations. I am deeply convinced that we will continue to have your support and the help of all our friends from the European Union on this path,” Kristo said in the letter.