The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina will initiate and manage the reforms towards the necessary degree of coherence with the membership criteria, based on the key priorities set by the European Commission, the collective head of state agreed on Monday in a meeting with an ad-hoc group in charge of European integration.

The group’s task is to encourage the dialogue in the country with an aim of meeting the conditions for the European Union candidate status, said a statement the Presidency issued following the meeting.

All participants expressed strong support to Bosnia’s path to the EU and intention to work on meeting the necessary conditions and thanked the EU and Quint ambassadors for supporting the Presidency and its commitment to lead the process towards the implementation of the priorities set by the European Commission. 

The Presidency recently formed the group that besides the Presidency members consists of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and two deputies, as well as the Speakers of Bosnia’s House of Peoples and House of Representatives and their deputies.

Its task was defined as managing the processes in the country and reaching a consensus in terms of Bosnia’s road to the EU.

The Quint and EU ambassadors welcomed the group formation, noting this was a chance for Bosnian leaders to be well prepared prior to the EU-Western Balkans summit taking place on May 6.