Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković is urging the European Union to make Bosnia and Herzegovina’s membership a top priority. He warned that delays in the process could lead to instability in the Western Balkans and allow outside powers like Russia or China to gain more influence. Plenković wants Bosnia’s EU membership and the overall EU expansion in the region to be discussed at the EU leaders’ summit in June.
In an interview with Euronews, Plenković said Croatia fully supports Bosnia’s path to joining the EU. But he also expressed concern about the country’s fragile political situation. “Bosnia and Herzegovina is our neighbor,” he said, “and Croats there are one of the three main ethnic groups. We want to help them move forward like other countries in the region.”
Bosnia has wanted to join the EU for a long time, but progress has been slow due to deep political divisions. The country still follows a complex power-sharing system created by the 1995 Dayton Agreement, which ended the war. It’s split into two main parts — the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska — with a shared national government in Sarajevo.
Plenković warned that if the EU process remains slow, it could leave room for other global powers to step in. “The slower things go, the more influence countries like Russia or China could have,” he said. “That’s why we’re pushing for a more organized and faster process.”
Meanwhile, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said the EU might review Georgia’s candidate status and free trade agreement.
