EU’s Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi is visiting Sarajevo where he met with the Council of Ministers’ Chair, Borjana Kristo, who co-chairs the high-level Political Forum. The Commissioner said that he is satisfied with the work and the initiative of the new convocation of the Council of Ministers to fulfil the 14 priorities that BiH has before it in order to become an EU member.

“Having such a Forum represents a sign of a new and different approach and accelerated dynamics towards the EU path. Bosnia and Herzegovina received the status of a candidate country and that was the trigger for what we are doing today and plan to do in the future,” Varhelyi said.

He added that EU leaders want BiH as a partner and to become a member of the EU, but that there will be no shortcuts in achieving that goal.

“You are witnessing an engagement that is strong and will lead, I hope, to concrete results. What I saw and heard today is proof of the work of this convocation of authorities at all levels. At the BiH level, an unprecedentedly fast government was formed in record time, the budget was adopted, and the government was established in FBiH and at lower levels. The candidate status was a key factor in these events and I hope that this will be an additional motive to fulfil the 14 key priorities for joining the EU,” the EU Commissioner said.

When asked by an N1’s journalist about the President of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, Milorad Dodik’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Russia, Varhelyi was clear and said that those who are allies of the EU do not travel to Moscow.

“As for the visit to Russia, our allies are not going to Russia. Our support is here and that’s why I’m here. We need concrete results,” Oliver Varhelyi concluded.