The leaders of the 27 member-states of the European Union on Thursday made a historic decision on granting the candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova, and expressed readiness to grant the status of candidate country to Georgia once the priorities specified in the European Commission’s opinion on Georgia’s membership application have been addressed.
"The European Council has decided to grant the status of candidate country to Ukraine and to the Republic of Moldova," according to the conclusions the European Council adopted on Thursday.
Plenković said that awarding this status to Ukraine, which he had also advocated from the very start, was the only logical choice in the present circumstance marked by Russia's military aggression against that country.
"This is an important message of solidarity both to the Ukrainian leadership and people. The decision concerning Moldova is great encouragement for that country," said Plenković.
Conclusions on BiH
The European Council adopted the document titled "conclusions on Ukraine, the membership applications of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, Western Balkans and external relations."
One of those conclusions reads that the European Council "welcomes the political agreement reached on 12 June 2022 by the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Brussels which is needed for the stability and full functioning of the country and in order to respond to the aspirations of the people."
"It calls on all political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to swiftly implement the commitments set out in the agreement and urgently finalise the constitutional and electoral reform, which will allow the country to advance decisively on its European path, in line with the opinion of the Commission."
"The European Council is ready to grant the status of candidate country to Bosnia and Herzegovina and to that aim it invites the Commission to report without delay to the Council on implementation of the 14 key priorities set out in its opinion with special attention to those which constitute a substantial set of reforms in order for the European Council to revert to decide on the matter."
The substantial set of reforms concerns Constitutional and electoral law reforms, a law on judicial council, a law on the prosecutorial council, a law on conflict of interest and a law on public procurement.
If Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts the above-mentioned laws soon and the EC assesses them positively in its report, which is due to be published this October, the European Council could decide on Bosnia and Herzegovina's candidate status in December.
"It is important for us to see that our neighbouring country in which a half million Croats live, can catch up with other countries in the neighbourhood and now with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia," said Plenković.
The message has been sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina to swiftly amend the electoral law so that this crucial precondition for the general elections, set for October, could be met in the best possible way, he added.
After many countries seemed reserved towards BiH, this has been a great positive signal to BiH, due to the insistence made by Croatia, said Plenković.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been waiting for candidate status for six and a half years. We have strongly pushed it a step closer to that status today, he said adding that a vivid debate on Bosnia and Herzegovina had been held on Thursday afternoon so as to get as best wording as possible in the conclusions referring to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Text: Hina