During deliberations on this year’s enlargement package and progress reports, a significant split has emerged within the European Commission concerning the recommendation to commence membership negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Consensus eluded the meetings of cabinet chiefs on Monday and Tuesday, prompting this issue to be deferred for personal determination by commissioners at the upcoming Wednesday college meeting.

Commissioners from countries such as Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, and others have been unwavering in their assertion that the Commission should advocate for the initiation of membership negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. They argue that this step would lend crucial support to the country’s reform process and overall stability. This insistence is notably connected to the fact that the Commission is proposing to open negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, both of which entered the enlargement process two decades after Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, substantial objections within the Commission have emerged, contending that even the progress report for Bosnia and Herzegovina recognizes that the country has significantly lagged in its reform efforts and has failed to meet the conditions stipulated by the European Commission when it granted candidate status to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Sources within the European Commission suggest that, as a potential compromise, a more positive tone in the report might convey that the Commission could recommend the start of negotiations once Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrates substantial progress in fulfilling the required conditions.

In the enlargement process, the European Commission is responsible for making recommendations to initiate membership negotiations, with the final decision resting in the hands of leaders from the member states in the European Council.

Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted candidate status alongside Ukraine and Moldova just last year.