SARAJEVO – The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a decision to initiate negotiations with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) at an extraordinary session.
The EU Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina welcomed this decision, adding that increased cooperation in border management is in the interest of both the EU and BiH. „This is an important step and one of the priorities ahead of the Europan Council decision in March“, they stated in a post on X.
Launching the talks with Frontex is one of the conditions set before Bosnian authorities towards opening the accession talks with the EU. This was earlier confirmed by Angelina Eichhorst, Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia at the European External Action Service (EEAS).
In an interview for N1, she said that BiH must adopt the top three laws the EU insists upon and start cooperation with Frontex, which are compared to the 14 priorities of the European Commission.
„Frontex – negotiations need to start and this is important as the next step of the accession and three key laws – the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, the Law on Conflict of Interest, and the Law on Courts. A lot of discussions were held about it, we know that there was also a meeting of the coalition leaders and we hope that this will be adopted. I believe that these decisions can be made. If they are adopted and the negotiations with Frontex begin, the President of the European Commission will be in a position to inform the heads of governments of the EU states and the 27 council members that this has been done“, she said.
BiH and Frontex initiated the agreement at the end of 2018, but it did not enter into force due to Milorad Dodik’s veto in the Presidency of BiH at that time.