SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), December 9 (SeeNews) – Bosnia and Herzegovina received officially on Friday the European Commission's questionnaire, based on which the EU will decide whether the country is ready to join the bloc.
The European Union's commissioner for European neighbourhood policy and enlargement negotiations Johannes Hahn handed over the questionnaire, comprising 3242 questions, to the chair of Bosnia's state-level Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdic, the EU Delegation in the country said in a statement.
Hahn’s visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina follows the submission of the application for EU membership by Bosnia in February 2016 and the green light the Council gave in September 2016 to the Commission to prepare the opinion on the membership application.
The questionnaire, available online, contains questions pertaining to the free movement of goods, capital and workers; public procurement; agricultural and rural development; energy; economic policy; social policy; health; education; external relations; foreign, security, defence policy; financial control and others.
“This whole process can be a real game changer for the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina because now the country can be assessed against the same standards as apply for EU Member States”, Hahn said in the statement.
He also noted that the reform agenda implementation is on track, the protocol to the stabilisation and association agreement will be signed soon and the coordination mechanism has been adopted, which will be crucial to the process.
On his official Twitter page Hahn added: "This is a historical step forward on BiH's accession path!".
During his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hahn will also meet with the country's presidency, foreign minister Igor Crnadak, and representatives of the entity governments.