At a conference in Berlin on Wednesday, the foreign ministers of Germany and the United Kingdom put forward a proposal building on the EU’s Compact for Growth and Jobs. The Compact essentially codified Europe’s new approach to BiH, which prioritizes economic reform and grown over political reforms. Today’s joint proposal by the UK and Germany attached a financial incentive to that approach. Under the plan, Bosnia’s new government–assuming a BiH-level government can be formed without undue delay–would make a written commitment to carry out economic and institutional reforms. In return, Britain and Germany would push the EU to make new funds available to BiH under the Stabilization and Association Agreement.
Britain’s Foreign Office said it hoped that endorsement would come at a Dec. 12 EU foreign ministers’ meeting.
Anticipating resistance from some member states about the prospect of further enlargement to the 28-country bloc, both foreign ministers stressed that the new plan did not amount to a watering down of the entry requirements.
