Bosnia and Herzegovina will not become a member of the European Union for a long time to come, France's Ambassador to Sarajevo, Rolland Gilles, said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has made virtually no progress in the EU integration process and actually has been falling behind in recent months. At the current pace, it is hard to imagine it joining the EU for a long time to come, Gilles told Dnevni Avaz daily.
The ambassador said that Bosnia and Herzegovina was already now under some sort of self-imposed sanctions over its failure to implement reforms, as a result of which the EU has suspended payments from its pre-accession funds. He said that the only reason for the present situation was the lack of political will and that the price of it would eventually be paid by ordinary citizens.
Gilles said that a meeting between Bosnian political leaders and EU officials, scheduled for October 1 in Brussels, was crucial for the implementation of the expected reforms and that it would provide an opportunity for concrete action.
