Valentin Inzko, High Representative and EU Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina said he doubts the country would access the EU in 2014.

“It is too optimistic to expect this would happen in 2014. However, it would be a nice symbol if Bosnia and other Balkan countries could access the EU at the 100th anniversary of the assault in Sarajevo and the beginning of the World War I,” Inzko told Vienna daily Standard.

“The conditions of the EU are more concrete than you think and the strategy for association is clearer. There are also clear conditions for visa liberalization for everyone. Of the 174 points, Bosnia-Herzegovina completed 150, and they should be able to finish the rest of the tasks by June 2010,” Inzko said.

Speaking of the fate of the Office of the High Representative (OHR), he said that there will be a transition from the OHR to a strengthened office of the EU’s special envoy.

“Bosnians will have to stand on their own more and more and be open to compromise…I think that it is time to think about whether Bosnia would be able to find its way with the OHR. The High Representative cannot stay here forever. International presence will remain for a long time, but in the role of an envoy. Help can be usefully for the most part in reconciliation or state functionality,” Inzko said.