The European Council has announced that it is to open accession talks with Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH). The Country – which comprises two national entities held together by the 1995 American Dayton Accords – is overseen by a German High Representative, Hans Christian Schmidt. 

Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations has protested on behalf of the Serbian faction of BiH that Russia is 

‘strongly opposed to the gross interference of external forces in the internal affairs of sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina.’ 

Mr Nebenzia asserted that BiH President Denis Bećirović does not consult the Serbian factions of his own government and that

‘contrary to the Dayton Accords, Western states try to impose on the BiH society the aspirations to centralise and unitise the country in line with the sly „civil society” formula.’

EU accession could still pose a serious challenge for BiH. Many in the area still celebrate the Ratko Mladic – convicted in the Hague for war crimes – as a hero. Citing the unwillingness of one of the two entities to toe the line of international consensus, Schmitt warned that „The threats come from authorities of Republika Srpska but also others, which actively subvert the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its competences and institutions, and thus the Dayton Peace Agreement. [Republika Srpska’s] anti-Dayton agenda will lead to the de facto secession of Republika Srpska. This is a scenario with grave consequences not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but for the whole region.”

The Byzantine Dayton accords overseen by Schmidt brought tenuous peace – even outbreaks of fraternity – amid the Yugoslav wars, but BiH now seeks to tackle the more prosaic problems that face stable societies (of particular concern are the collapsing demographics as youngsters head abroad). 

As 35,000 citizens actively renounced their citizenship over the last ten years while military officials are known to still glorify Ratko Mladic (a war criminal who attacked Srebrenica, murdering civilians but also violating the UN’s security zone there), questions are still being raised about whether the EU membership are balancing the prospect of more territory against their own legal requirements for stability. 

Schmidt hailed the EU accession talks as „an encouragement to the citizens to stay rather than leave in dramatic numbers.” “The way forward starts from the understanding that Dayton and the EU reform path reinforce, rather than contradict, one another,” he said.

But one effect of gradual westernisation and democratisation has had is that, as the 3.5 million citizens in the region increase their voter turnout in real terms, the population themselves will make the country’s position clear.