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EU hopeful members that struggle to carry out necessary reforms need support, not punishment, Obrad Kesić, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ambassador to the EU, told Euronews.
Last week, Euronews revealed that the European Commission was set to redirect funding from Western Balkan candidate countries that failed to deliver required reforms towards better-performing ones, with Bosnia and Herzegovina set to be the biggest loser.
“If students are struggling, punishment is not the best method to get them back on track,” Kesić said, adding that the move would be unfortunate for his country’s citizens.
He noted that recent visits by European Council President António Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas clearly show that Brussels is not losing interest in his country, but warned that taking funding away might send the wrong political signal, turning the accession process into a competition and undermining the close cooperation Western Balkan countries have built up in recent years.
Earlier this year, for instance, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia coordinated closely to resolve the problem of truck drivers stuck at the EU border as the new Entry/Exit system was gradually rolled out.
“All decision-makers in Sarajevo are aware of their responsibility for the lack of progress on agreed reforms,” Kesić said, pointing to domestic issues such as the collapse of the coalition government and a constitutional crisis.
“We are aware that we have not done our homework, but reallocating funding would not be the best motivator,” he added.
The ambassador also argued that the timing of the decision is particularly sensitive, since it risks becoming a major political issue ahead of elections in October, handing strong arguments to anti-EU forces.
“We know that is not the intent, but this decision would inevitably impact the democratic process and influence the elections,” Kesić warned.
The ambassador pointed to a growing lack of confidence in the accession process, driven largely by EU countries floating ideas to reform enlargement, including a Franco-German proposal for “gradual integration”.
These new ideas are seen as creating uncertainty, since they could change the process for candidate countries already in the queue, much as Brussels’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans overshadowed the Berlin process in the past.
Sarajevo has not yet been formally informed of the decision, and hopes the reallocation of the €6 billion fund, of which Bosnia and Herzegovina is due to receive just under €1 billion, will be more modest than the full amount suggests.
The Commission has some options to keep candidate countries that have missed reform deadlines from losing funding altogether, such as redirecting unspent money towards technical assistance.