Željana Zovko

Objavljeno: 22.7.2017.

Zovko: BiH may not advance on its path to the EU unless its political issues are resolved

 

STRASBOURG, 7 July (FENA) – “I think BiH may not advance on its path to the EU unless its political issues are resolved. We’ll face the wall sooner or later; by the wall I mean a necessity to tackle the internal political issues. We may not join the EU before ordering our internal institutional architecture and inter-relations of the three nations.”- said the member of the European Parliament Željana Zovko in an interview with the journalists from BiH.

She points out to two approaches to the problem with BiH. One is that the actual status may be changed with economic reforms without changing the legislation and the Constitution, what eventually would stabilize the country. She places a special focus on the problem of inequality of Croats with other two constitutive nations in BiH.

-When I was appointed a MEP, I requested revision of the “lessons learnt”, resp., of all wrong policies implemented in BiH, in order to see what was done wrong in last 20 years. – says Zovko.

She warns that BiH is not high on the agenda of the European administrations. It is up to us to promote a pro-active approach instead of sitting and waiting for the final outcome.

-The City of Mostar, which has been functioning without the City Council, is the best warning. The credit for the City’s survival as a normal city goes only to constant balancing performed by the mayor. But keeping the entire country a hostage of politics would have enormous consequences. I truly hope that representatives of the European administrations will come to understand how important this issue is. – says the first EP member from BiH.

Asked why the European Commission does not involve more actively in resolving the problems in BiH, Zovko replied that issues which do not involve instability were considered internal state matters by the EU. However, she warns about non-European policies under influence of non-European countries doing their best to divert BiH from its path to the EU.

-Montenegro had a similar situation when there were attempts to prevent it from joining NATO. However, it is encouraging that 80% of the BiH citizens want their country to join the EU, because no one is going to the East in search for a job, everyone is going to the West, to Europe. – says Zovko, adding that the EP is aware of a danger of the crisis deepening due to non-European influences.

 

 

 

 

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