Six member countries of NATO and the European Union called for the opening of the accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina for the EU membership by the end of this year.

The foreign ministers of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia met on Wednesday on the sidelines of the NATO ministerial meeting at the Croatian Permanent Representation Office to express their firm support for Bosnia and Herzegovina on its European path.

The same six countries and Austria, which is not a NATO member, sent a joint letter to the EU's high representative for foreign and security policy, Josep Borrell, a little over a month ago, in which they also requested the opening of accession talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We emphasise the political necessity to ensure the opening of accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina by the end of this year,” said the joint statement that followed the meeting of the six ministers.

Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Grlic-Radman said that the meeting was held in order to draw additional attention and emphasise the strategic importance of opening accession talks with BiH for the sake of the stability and security of the European continent.

“In the current geopolitical context, any delay in the start of accession negotiations could further increase instability in the region and result in the loss of positive momentum,” the statement said.

It was also emphasised that enlargement “is not a choice among candidate countries, but a common strategic interest that will bring much-needed stability and security to the European continent.”

Grlic-Radman said that any other decision by the heads of state or government at the summit scheduled for December 14 and 15 would be bad for stability and security and that no one would profit from it.

“On the contrary, anti-European and anti-Western politicians would have a benefit, and I hope that there are few of these,” Grlic-Radman said.

He also welcomed the efforts of the Bosnia Council of Ministers, Chairwoman Borjana Kristo and Foreign Minister Elvedin Konakovic, who are working to speed up reforms and adopt as many laws as possible, which are also a condition for opening negotiations.

On November 8, the European Commission published a report on the progress of the candidate countries. Bosnia and Herzegovina received a conditional recommendation, that is, the Commission recommended the opening of accession talks once the country achieves a sufficient degree of compliance with the required criteria.

The final decision requires the unanimous support of all the heads of state or government of the member states.