Leaders of the parties of Bosnia and Herzegovina's ruling coalition on Monday agreed to cease hindering cooperation and accelerate the implementation of reforms so that the state would have an opportunity to open negotiations on membership in the European Union by the end of the year.

Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) leader Dragan Covic, Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) leader Milorad Dodik and People and Justice (NiP) leader Elmedin Konakovic, Social Democratic Party (SDP BiH) leader Nermin Niksic and Our Party (NS) leader Edin Forto met during the day in Istocno Sarajevo, which was their the first joint meeting since the work of the Council of Ministers and then the state parliament was obstructed in September.

The obstruction was caused by Dodik's ultimate request to pass a new law on the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina before dealing with any other problem and to exclude foreign judges from it.

On the instructions of their party leader, SNSD ministers stopped the adoption of important decisions in the BiH Council of Ministers. Furthermore, that party's members of the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina blocked the confirmation of all laws, including those already adopted by the House of Representatives, which are part of the reform package insisted on by the European Commission in order to approve the start of accession negotiations.

After today's meeting, Dodik confirmed to the press that he had decided to give up the ultimatum issued earlier and to give his consent for the rapid adoption of two important laws, namely the laws on preventing conflict of interest and preventing money laundering.

There is also a possibility that a law on the establishment of the Appellate Division of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be adopted, and the only question is where its headquarters would be.

It is reasonable to separate these two laws in the hope that the EU will react positively and pave the way for opening the accession negotiations with BiH, said Dodik.

He also admitted that he was aware that for now there was no readiness on the part of the Bosniak and civic parties to adopt the new law on the Constitutional Court of BiH, so that matter remains to be discussed later.

HDZ leader Covic said that the atmosphere at the meeting was “excellent” and he expects that the BiH parliament will soon pass the two laws and that the process of adopting other important legal solutions will be accelerated.

In October 2022, the European Commission recommended Bosnia and Herzegovina for candidate status, on the understanding that a number of steps are taken. In December 2022, the European Council granted Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of candidate country.