Croatn MEP hopeful W. Balkan countries will join EU immediately after 2020Sarajevo, 26 October 2014 (MIA) - Western Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina could become new European Union members soon after 2020, provided that they seriously take the opportunity and resolutely implement the necessary reforms, a Croatian member of the European Parliament, Tonino Picula said in Sarajevo on Saturday.
Addressing a conference organised by the Pan-European Union on Bosnia and Herzegovina's new approach to its integration into the EU bloc, Picula, who is the chairman of the EP delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, said that Bosnia and Herzegovina was and would be "a stress test for the ability of the European Union to expand both its territory and influence as a community that shares the same values".
He called on the new European Commission and on the local government which would be set up in Bosnia after the latest elections to create space for a new approach to the European integration processes.
As for reasons for disinclination to further enlargement, the Croatian MEP said that "the crisis has played its part in it, and populist movements have made use of it."
Picula also warned that a statement by the new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker about a halt in enlargement in the next five years, should not be used as a pretext for not doing anything concerning Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU membership bid.
He said that a big job was ahead of the country and efforts might be rewarded adequately upon the expiry of the term of the Juncker commission.
Soon after 2020, a new wave of the EU enlargement to include the Western Balkans may ensue, Picula said.
To this end, Bosnia should homogenise itself as a country, he added.
"This is the time of brutal resetting of international relations," the Croatian politician said.
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