Initialling of Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU
05.12.2007
Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Enlargement, and Nikola Spiric, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, initialled the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), in Sarajevo yesterday. This is the first contractual relation between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a key step towards future membership of the Union.
The Members of the B&H Presidency - Zeljko Komsic, Nebojsa Radmanovic and Haris Silajdzic - along with Miroslav Lajcak, High Representative and European Union Special Representative, witnessed the initialling ceremony.
Javier Solana, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, and Luis Amado, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal (the country which currently holds the Union 's rotating Presidency) were unable to attend as planned due to adverse weather conditions at the airport. Their messages of support were transmitted by Lajcak and H. E. A. Boltelho de Sousa, Ambassador of Portugal to B&H.
Government representatives - Ministers, Members of Parliament, Entity Prime Ministers, leaders of political parties, and many others - as well as members of the Diplomatic Corp and International Organisations, gathered for this historic occasion.
Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas and a substantial part of his team from the Delegation were also present, along with Osman Topcagic and members of his staff in the Directorate for European Integration, to see the first fruition of their long-standing efforts in this regard.
The initialling was followed by speeches and a press conference.
Spiric said that the citizens of B&H have waited a long time for this wonderful moment and that, as of tomorrow, the country and its people will all embark on a general transformation of B&H society, for the SAA is a momentous task which requires focus to overcome the challenges ahead. He rejoiced in the fact that the country's leaders replaced endless discussion with compromise, in the true spirit of Europe. He stressed that B&H must prove with concrete examples that it can assume its responsibilities and carry out the required tasks, including police reform, public broadcasting legislation, public administration reform, full co-operation with the ICTY, economic reforms, etc.
Commissioner Rehn expressed his pleasure at being back in Sarajevo for such an important day and being able to initial the SAA, which will bring concrete benefits to its citizens, such as increased trade and investments. If properly implemented, the SAA is the gateway to Candidate Country status. He congratulated the citizens of B&H for this achievement and its political leaders for acting in the true European spirit of compromise, so as to overcome the political crisis. He added that it is essential to keep up the momentum, so as to finish the SAA process and prepare for future challenges on the road to Europe.
H. E. A. Boltelho de Sousa extended congratulations to the citizens of B&H and its political leaders, adding that his country is particularly pleased that the first contractual agreement between the European Union and B&H was achieved under the Portuguese Presidency and offered continued and full support.
Lajcak noted the great symbolic importance of this day after months of paralysis. The new agreement reached will ensure a better functioning of the Council of Ministers and Parliament, and the agreement on future police restructuring demonstrate that B&H is able to overcome challenges. It now has a good chance to catch up with its neighbours – the assistance offered by the various branches of the “EU family in B&H” (EUSR, EUFOR, EUPM, the EC Delegation) will continue to change in order to address changing circumstances, but the commitment to B&H and its European future will remain unchanged. He congratulated all for the success of this day, hoping that soon there will be further successes to celebrate, adding that this depends on B&H itself.
