Šefik Džaferović

The European Union's executive arm will recommend that member countries open accession negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday, despite lingering ethnic divisions in the Western Balkan country.

But there is a considerable price to pay for these small steps towards basic functioning in the entity-level government. The larger thrust of Schmidt's proposal amounts to a sort of election gerrymandering by the Office of the High Representative, OHR.

Bosnia's top court has annulled a law adopted last year by the assembly of Bosnia's Serb-majority entity Republika Srpska, saying it could undermine the authority of the state Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices by creating separate bodies under its own authority.

Boris Johnson during his visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 2017. Photo: EPA/FEHIM DEMIR.

At the request of NATO Headquarters Sarajevo, a UK military counter-disinformation expert and a civilian strategic defence adviser will be deployed to Bosnia to support and train its armed forces.

Brussels – Prime Minister Robert Golob expressed the hope that EU leaders will reach a consensus on giving Bosnia-Herzegovina candidate country status at Thursday’s summit as he dismissed reports by some media that Slovenia is willing to block Ukraine’s bid to achieve that.

In that sense, Bosnia's sovereignty can only be truly championed by its own citizens. Still, it is striking that for a country which at one time was the poster child of the triumphs of international liberalism, the cause of liberal democracy in Bosnia effectively falls on deaf ears in most Western capitals.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) and Bosnia presidency member Milorad Dodik (L) meeting in Sarajevo, July 8, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

The Bosnian Serb leader earlier threatened to withdraw all Bosnian Serb officials from state-level institutions and re-establish a Bosnian Serb army, fomenting fresh fears of Bosnia's collapse and of armed conflict.

Ljubljana – Prime Minister Janez Janša met on Sunday Milorad Dodik, the Serbian member of the Bosnia-Herzegovina presidency, to discuss the political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region. Janša described the meeting on Twitter as a substantive exchange about the situation in the country.

Bosnian Presidency member Milorad Dodik (R) shakes hand with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Linhart (L) as he arrives for a meeting at the Bosnian Presidency, 15 October 2021. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

He pointed out that there are many sources of misunderstanding in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that relations must be considered in more detail.
"When it comes to Mr Dodik, his unusual expression, someone may like it or not, but he is supported by the largest number of representatives of the Serb people in Bosnia-Herzegovina," Covic told HRT, as reported by Srna.