Sarajevo – French Ambassador Roland Gilles says all European capitals are currently developing a new EU approach to Bosnia and Herzegovina announcing that in mid April Bosnia and Herzegovina will be a topic of a meeting of the Union’s foreign ministers in Brussels.Gilles said the recent political gridlock, which ensued after no solution was found for the implementation of the Sejdić-Finci ruling and after no agreement was reached on a coordination mechanism for EU related matters, prompted the EU to create another approach to BiH.
France does not think that the EU should lower the criteria that BiH should meet, Gilles said, emphasising that the reforms that BiH needs will not be skipped.
The ambassador recalled that the last meeting of the EU technical sub-committee had been delayed because Bosnia and Herzegovina had not reached an agreement yet by which it would speak to the EU with one voice.
“It is France’s view that the major issues must be resolved, such as the Sejdić-Finci ruling and the coordination mechanism,” Gilles told reporters ahead of the Association of Independent Intellectuals “Circle 99” session, where he spoke on the topic entitled “BiH in Gap between Past and Present: What’s Next?”
According to the ambassador, other procedures need to be designed in order to establish the dialogue that would help reach an agreement the people demand, especially in the social sphere.
He noted that the message of observing the First World War centennial in BiH was very simple and that it was one of peace and reconciliation.
“During that war, there was a real slaughterhouse that left more than 10 million people killed. I don’t intend to attribute responsibility to any nation but instead urge us all to realise what a huge tragedy it was and do all we can to make sure it never happens again. I want us to offer the youth something completely different,” said Gilles.
During the session, the French ambassador spoke also about the civic protests in BiH, the Ukraine crisis and the regional stability.(SRNA)
