BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union’s executive recommended on Wednesday that the bloc starts membership talks with Bosnia and Herzegovina once it meets outstanding conditions.
“The (European) Commission recommends the opening of EU accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, once the necessary degree of compliance with the membership criteria is achieved,” said the Brussels-based EU executive.
The tightly-contested recommendation will inform a decision in mid-December by the 27 national EU leaders on whether to start formal accession talks with the Western Balkan country.
The 27 need unanimity to endorse an invitation to Sarajevo, something that will be hard to achieve as EU countries are split, with Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia in support, but the Netherlands and others firmly against.
“We open the door very wide and we invite Bosnia and Herzegovina now to go through this door,” said Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
“For that, of course there has to be activity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Results have to be shown but the door is now open very wide,” she told a news conference.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss, Gabriela Baczynska, Andrew Gray)
