Summary: EU Presidency Statement - Situation in Bosnia Herzegovina (15 November 2005: New York)
EU Statement to the Security Council at Public Meeting on the situation in Bosnia Herzegovina, Statement by Sir Emyr Jones Parry, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom Mission of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United Nations on behalf of the European Union, New York
I have the honour also to speak on behalf of the European Union.
The acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Country Turkey and the EFTA country, a member of the EEA, Iceland, as well as the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.
2005 is a particularly significant year for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ten years ago next week, the Dayton Peace Agreement was initialled, bringing bitter fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina to an end and establishing constitutional structures of the country we know today.
Bosnia and Herzegovina stands on the threshold of another new chapter in its history. In Brussels next week, we expect the European Union to agree formally to open negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement. The conclusion of these negotiations will establish a formal, contractual relationship between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For Bosnia, this marks the first step on the long path to eventual membership of the European Union. It also demonstrates that the EU is determined to deliver on the Thessaloniki agenda: that is, the commitment that all the countries of the Western Balkans are potential members of the European Union, provided they meet the necessary conditions.
The opening of negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina will also mean that all the countries of the region will have concluded, or be negotiating, formal contractual relations with the European Union.
Just how far Bosnia and Herzegovina has come in ten years is underlined by the other anniversary commemorated this year - that of the massacre at Srebrenica of around 8000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in July 1995. We must never forget what happened at Srebrenica. Nor can we forget what happened to Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs in countless other towns and villages all over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is for this reason that a fundamental condition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's further progress towards membership of the European Union is the requirement to co-operate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, including the apprehension and transfer of all fugitive indictees in particular Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
The fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina has come so far in ten years is a testament to the enormous political, financial and military investment by the international community, including the European Union, and to the efforts of the Bosnians themselves.
It is also a testament to the efforts of Lord Ashdown, who - as High Representative and EU Special Representative - has been tireless in assisting Bosnia and Herzegovina to drive through the significant reforms we have seen over the last three and a half years. The EU, the wider international community, and Bosnia and Herzegovina owe Lord Ashdown a debt of gratitude. He leaves Bosnia and Herzegovina on the threshold of a new chapter in its history and better able to face the challenges
ahead.
As European Union Special Representative, Lord Ashdown has played an important role in co-ordinating the work of different EU instruments deployed to support Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Union's greatest strength is the potential to bring to bear its financial, political and military instruments in support of one objective - support to Bosnia and Herzegovina's Euro-Atlantic integration.
Lord Ashdown used his High Representative powers effectively but was sometimes criticised for usurping the role of democratic institutions. However, this approach was necessary at the time because the institutions needed that sort of push in order to move forward. It is now time for that relationship to evolve, and with it the style of the High Representative, in order to allow Bosnia to stand on its own two feet. This means that we should move away form the commanding approach to one of
support.
Working in close co-operation with the NATO presence, EUFOR has successfully assumed the main peace stabilisation role under the Dayton Peace Agreement. The European Union Police mission has provided advice and support to Bosnia and Herzegovina in its efforts to bring its own police structures up to European standards. The EU continues to provide significant financial support to Bosnia and Herzegovina under the Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS)
regional assistance programme.
Bosnia and Herzegovina still has much work to do in implementing the reforms and meeting the European Union integration benchmarks. Many of the challenges Bosnia and Herzegovina faces are a legacy of the years of conflict. It will require determination and resolve on the part of the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to overcome them once and for all. But the EU's commitment to continuing to support them in their efforts is evident and will be maintained.
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