Slovenian Foreign Minister, Tanja Fajon, on Friday called on politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina to seize the opportunity provided by the candidate status for European Union membership.

Speaking to the press in Sarajevo after meeting with outgoing Bosnian Foreign Minister, Bisera Turkovic, Fajon said that Slovenia was ready to help Bosnia and Herzegovina in meeting the EU membership requirements as part of the reform process.

Late last year the European Council granted Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a candidate for EU membership, noting that accession talks would be opened only after the new government in Sarajevo showed its readiness to implement 14 key reforms defined by the European Commission in 2019.

Special attention will need to be paid to ensure the rule of law and freedom of the media, Fajon said.

Fajon said that the Russian aggression against Ukraine had changed the world and that never before had the EU shown such solidarity. The Western Balkans has been given priority and the countries in the region, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it should seize this opportunity, she added.

Turkovic noted that Fajon was the first foreign minister of an EU member state to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina after the country obtained EU candidate status, thanking Slovenia for the continued support for the EU integration of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The candidate status represents a clear path for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens, and now it is up to us to accelerate the fulfillment of the set priorities,” Turković said, adding that the new government was expected to be formed soon and that it would assume this task.

The process of government formation based on the results of the 2 October 2022 general election is still ongoing after the Croat HDZ BiH party, the Serb SNSD and a group of six civic and predominantly Bosniak parties led by the SDP have agreed to form a coalition.

Turkovic said that Bosnia and Herzegovina should align its foreign and security policy with the EU’s, adding that divisions within the country on this issue would be overcome. She was alluding to the refusal of Serb authorities to allow the imposition of sanctions on Russia over its military invasion of Ukraine.

“I am very concerned about Russian influence,” Turkovic warned, recalling that even before the Ukraine war, notably during the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia attempted military infiltration in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the pretext of providing medical assistance.