Accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina To The European Union - Application For Membership

Application For Membership

The EU stated early on that Bosnia could not submit an application for membership until the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is charged with implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, has been closed. The failure of Bosnia to meet the conditions for closure of the OHR, including addressing state and military property ownership issues and implementing constitutional reforms, has prevented them from submitting an application to date.

According to the Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj, Bosnia and Herzegovina planned to submit an application for membership between April and June 2009. However, an application ultimately was not submitted in this time frame. In February 2010, Alkalaj stated that Bosnia now planned to submit their membership application by the end of the year. This was reiterated by Alkalaj in August. A European Commission source stated in late 2010 that "We believe that in one year's time the OHR will be closed, or at least reduced and moved from Sarajevo", which would clear the way for an application to be submitted.

After more than a year of negotiations following the 2010 Bosnian general election, which stalled progress on European integration, an agreement was reached by the rival parties in December 2011 on the formation of a government which quickly passed laws on state aid and a national census, two key demands of the EU. This left bringing the constitution into compliance with the Finci and Sejdic ruling of the ECHR as the lone remaining major obstacle to be overcome before an application could be submitted. Vjekoslav Bevanda, the chair of the Bosnian Council of Ministers, stated in early 2012 that "I expect that we shall fulfill conditions for submitting the application for EU membership by June 30".

In June 2012 the EU Special Representative to Bosnia Peter Sørensen stated that "under ideal circumstances" Bosnia could obtain candidate status by early 2014. The EU presented Bosnia with a roadmap to submitting an application for membership in July 2012. It called for making the constitutional changes required by the Finci and Sejdic ruling by August 31 and addressing public procurement and environmental protection issues by November 1, when an application could be submitted. However, by January 2013 the targets had not been met and the previously agreed to census was postponed from April to October.