During a discussion on the Western Balkans in the European Parliament, MEPs spoke about the amendments to Election Law which the High Representative of the international community in BiH imposed, as well as the idea of introducing sanctions against the President of the country’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity, Milorad Dodik, over his support for Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

During the discussion, MEP Tineka Strik asked the Enlargement Commissioner, Oliver Varhelyi, to comment on Dodik's support for Putin and whether he is in favour of introducing sanctions against the Bosnian Serb political leader.

Varhelyi responded by quoting an earlier statement, sayings that “the support for Putin that Dodik gives isolates Republika Srpska and its international role”.

German MEP, Delara Burkhardt, raised the issue of the amendments to the Election Law which High Representative Christian Schmidt introduced in BiH, asking how they address discrimination against minorities in the election process.

Varhelyi responded that there is a need to reform the election process in BiH and that major changes are being prepared. However, he argued that Schmidt’s amendments did produce results and enabled a successful election process in the country.

Slovenian MEP Matjaz Nemec noted that his country played a key role in granting BiH the EU candidate status, and asked when a political forum could be organised where BiH's candidacy would be discussed.

“We are waiting for institutions to be established in BiH”, Varhelyi said, adding that BiH is making good progress.

“Then we will turn to the government, the Presidency of the Federation (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS) in order to establish that political dialogue. The purpose of this proposal was to establish a forum, a body, where those actors from the institutions who actually need to fulfil the priorities would participate,” he explained.