EU en VS bespreken Bosnische integratie in het transatlantische samenwerkingsverband (en)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, as the EU representative, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Jim Steinberg, will visit Sarajevo on 6 and 7 April in the framework of a joint strategy to promote stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its integration in the Euro-Atlantic community.
The aim of the meeting is to tackle together with Bosnia's political leaders the reforms needed in order to improve the country's prospects of joining the EU and NATO.
The political situation in Bosnia is characterised by an important international presence and a government in which power is divided between the three ethnic groups: Bosnians, Serbians and Croatians.
In the past, the EU has pointed out the need for overcoming the political divisions that prevent the necessary reforms from being undertaken for the country to prosper, and the risk of Bosnia and Herzegovina being left behind with regards to other countries in the region in a critical moment of the political process.
The previous rotating President of the EU Council, the Swedish minister Carl Bildt, visited Sarajevo with Deputy Secretary of State Steinberg last October to propose a way forward to the Bosnian leaders.
The proposal includes closing the Office of the High Representative to change to a reinforced European presence, the prelude to full sovereignty, and a series of changes in the Constitution aimed at increasing the State's operating capacity and ensure its compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is holding elections in October 2010.