BANJA LUKA (Bosnia and Herzegovina), February 15 (SeeNews) – The European Parliament called on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday to use the EU membership application evaluation process to prove that it is a functioning state.
The members of the European Parliament view the efforts of the government of Bosnia's Serb Republic entity to establish parallel channels of communication with the Commission as unacceptable, the parliament said in a statement after it adopted a resolution on Bosnia's progress on the path to winning a candidate country status.
Bosnia is made up of two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Federation.
The MEPs stressed that Bosnia needs to overcome ethnic and political divisions and remain united throughout the EU membership application evaluation process.
The resolution on Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted by 496 votes to 132, with 67 abstentions, according to the statement.
The country launched an official application to join the EU in February last year and received the European Commission's questionnaire in December.
During the parliamentary session MEPs commended the country for the achieved considerable progress on its EU path and reiterated that the EU remains committed to Bosnia’s territorial integrity and unity, the statement reveals.
Rapporteur Cristian Dan Preda said in the statement the MEPs hope that the Commission will shortly be stating that Bosnia has won the status of a candidate country. For this to happen, however, the country's authorities need to stay on track with the reforms decided upon in 2015, he added.
MEPs also urged Bosnia to keep up the momentum of reform and become an effective and functional state “based on rule of law, guaranteeing equality and democratic representation of all its constituent peoples and citizens”.
They expressed their regret that “the declared political commitment to combat corruption did not translate into tangible results” and said they see a need for effective scrutiny of political party and electoral campaign financing, transparent public sector employment and an end to corruption in public procurement cycle.