EU FOREIGN policy chief Catherine Ashton has urged Bosnians, Serbs and Kosovars to pursue a European political path, arguing that the people of the Western Balkans have much to gain from a “common future” within the EU.
On her first official visit outside the EU since her appointment as the union’s top diplomat was ratified last week by the European Parliament, Baroness Ashton is conducting meetings with political and civil society leaders in Sarajevo, Belgrade and Pristina.
While stressing that the stabilisation of the region remains a priority issue for the union, she said important challenges remain to ensure good neighbourly and bilateral relations in Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The visit comes as Baroness Ashton seeks to put her stamp on the union’s foreign policy after her unexpected appointment last year, issuing a series of statements on major global issues such as Iran’s nuclear programme and human rights in China.
In Sarajevo and Belgrade yesterday, she waded into the political deadlock in Bosnia and Herzegovina between rival Serb, Muslim and Croat leaders by calling on voters in elections next October to back pro-Europe candidates.
The country – which is divided into two autonomous Serb and Muslim-Croat regions – lags behind its neighbours in its attempt to the join the EU.
However, Baroness Ashton suggested progress could be made if new leaders with a European agenda prevail in the polls.
“Politics of division and flirtations with secessionist rhetoric are as harmful as they are pointless,” she said in Belgrade. “The EU will never accept the break-up of Bosnia and Herzegovina; we look forward to seeing the country instead as a member of the EU one day, with strong entities working within a single functional state.
“I have encouraged the Bosnian voters to think hard about what they want from their leaders during this period. It is a period where Bosnia and Herzegovina could – potentially – reach candidate status and move irreversibly on the track to Europe. But this will not happen if the current ‘politics as usual’ continues.”
She welcomed Serbia’s application to join the EU, but said “constant reforms” and co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia were central.
“I am also pleased that President Tadic started an initiative for a parliamentary resolution to condemn the massacres that took place in Srebrenica more than 10 years ago. This is an important step in coming to terms with the crimes committed and dealing with the ghosts of the past.”
Kosovo must be enabled in a pragmatic way to participate in regional co-operation initiatives, she said. “The EU may have left the status issue to individual member states. But the EU as a whole is clear that the future of Kosovo is European.” She went on to say that the authorities in Kosovo “need to do a lot more” to deliver on their commitments and improve the lives of all their people.
Separately, the European Commission will declare next week that it has decided to open accession talks with Iceland.