Joint collegium of both chambers of Bosnia's Parliament took unanimous stance on addressing the European Union's competent bodies and asking that Bosnia and Herzegovina is granted the candidate status i.e. an accelerated accession procedure, said Dragan Covic, the Speaker of the House of Peoples.

Speaking to Fena news agency on Wednesday, Covic said he believes the Parliament will adopt this decision and send the demand to the European Parliament and the European Commission.

“It is clear why we are doing that, but we don’t want this to be personal, individual but institutional, (submitted) through the highest legislative body of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We don’t want anyone to score political points with this subject and leave no room for speculations when it comes to our European path,” Covic said.

He confirmed that he would attend the session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in Brussels on March 15, which will among other issues discuss the situation in BiH.

The announcement comes a day after Bosnia Presidency Chairman Zeljko Komsic addressed the EU’s top officials, asking them to consider granting BiH the status of EU candidate country.

Bosnia and Herzegovina officially applied for the EU membership in 2016.