BRUSSELS – Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konaković and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić visited Brussels on 19 March, to participate in the meetings about the current political and security situation in their respective countries.
Konaković met with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, while Vučić talked to EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, and had a working dinner with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Kaja Kallas: “The EU will use all its mechanisms to protect the security and constitutional order of BiH”
It was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH that Kaja Kallas expressed her “full support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
“She assessed that in the past two years, BiH has shown dedicated work on harmonizing the reform agenda and commitment to the EU path. She added that the EU will not allow to jeopardize the achieved progress due to the political crisis that has undermined the work of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent months”, the press release reads.
Kallas added that the EU “will use all its mechanisms to protect the security and constitutional order of BiH”.
According to Konaković, “peace and stability can only be preserved by protecting the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
“Minister Konaković referred to the EU membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a strategic goal and priority of its foreign policy… The Minister informed the interlocutor about the anti-constitutional and destabilizing actions of the President of the RS Milorad Dodik in BiH, after the first-instance verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declaring Dodik guilty of committing the criminal offence of failure to implement the decisions of the High Representative”, it was stated.
Konaković also “requested an urgent response from the EU and called on European partners of Bosnia and Herzegovina to unite in a decisive stand against these unconstitutional actions of RS and sanction them”.
Vučić with Kos and Rutte about the reforms and security
Marta Kos stated yesterday that she had “a constructive meeting” with Aleksandar Vučić.
“We discussed concrete steps on Serbia’s EU path, the implementation of the Growth Plan and reiterated our expectation of a clear Serbian orientation towards the EU. I emphasised that enlargement is a whole of societal process. This is not possible without a strong civil society and independent media. It is the best way forward,” Kos wrote in an X post.
Vučić said that he stressed, “the importance we attach to reform activities, primarily to secure better lives for our citizens with a focus on rule of law, economic competitiveness and social inclusion”.
“I expressed the expectation that our progress and efforts would be recognized by EU member states and will result in a speedier integration process,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
Referring to his meeting with Aleksandar Vučić, Mark Rutte stated that they “discussed the critical importance of upholding regional security as well as how to continue to bolster NATO-Serbia relations”.
According to the Serbian President, the “preservation of peace and stability in the Western Balkans is of enormous importance for both Serbia and NATO”.