“We want BiH to join us as we believe that membership and the
process leading to it will bring prosperity to citizens,” Sorensen said
at a reception organised on the occasion of Europe Day, May 9.
He said that the EU is in BiH to assist it financially and
politically and to be a partner in the reform and modernisation of BiH.
Sorensen noted that 2013 is marked as “European year of the
citizen,” which is why guests from the BiH public and political life
were shown a short poll of BiH citizens on accession to the EU.
He said that BiH citizens demand progress in European integration to
be made and that the rest of the “European year of the citizen” should
be used so that this might be realised.
The Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers, Vjekoslav Bevanda,
wished those present a happy Europe Day and stressed that the EU
represents a positive example for BiH on how a community of different
peoples can function.
“The only right road and key to a brighter future of BiH is the
meeting of the Copenhagen and Madrid criteria for membership in the EU,
namely, the provision of political and economic justice and
administrative adaptability and stability, and a formal joining of the
community of peoples where it naturally belongs,” stressed Bevanda.
The EU Special Representative presented a plaque to Damir Zirojevic, who won “the EU in the arts” competition.
The solemn reception was also attended by Republika Srpska Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic.
Europe Day, May 9, is being celebrated throughout Europe as the
anniversary of the Schuman Declaration of 1950, which set the basic
foundations on which the EU was built.
(Srna/Frontal)
