"EU CONDITIONALITY" SEMINAR HELD IN SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (October 12, 2007) – The Bosnian Directorate for European Integration and the Project of EU Technical Assistance for State Institutions have organised in Sarajevo a seminar to analyse the sources of conditions set by the EU in enlargement process.

Bosnian state officials, members of the academic community and representatives of non-governmental organisations discussed at the seminar titled “EU Conditionality” the policy of EU conditionality and its results.

Director of the Bosnian Directorate for European Integration Osman Topcagic said that the EU conditionality policy primarily concerns the enlargements process and is applied to all countries in the process of European integration.

Efficient fulfilment of conditions on that road will help every country to complete the process of joining European institutions as soon as possible, Topcagic said.

Besides crossing from one phase of the accession process to the other, the conditions set by the EU are also important because of its financial assistance provided to all countries using this assistance.

Head of the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia Michael Dimitris Kourkoulas said that the Southeastern European states, including Bosnia, need to complete the process of fulfilling necessary conditions for joining the EU.

He said that Bosnia needs to overcome the painful wounds of the past and move towards the EU and that on this road it needs to fulfil the necessary conditions in order to transform the society.

Kourkoulas said that an innovative way needs to be found in relations between Bosnia and the EU so that our country can feel the appeal of the EU and overcome the existing problems.

State Chancellor of the Macedonian Government’s Secretariat for European Affairs Malinka Ristevska- Jordanova was also a guest at the seminar.