SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday welcomed Bosnia’s steps towards EU membership, saying the Balkans state was vital to the development of the region.
Merkel, who was in capital Sarajevo on the second day of a two-day tour of prospective EU members Albania, Bosnia and Serbia, said: "In Bosnia we see that problems must be overcome because the development of Bosnia-Herzegovina can benefit the whole region.”
In a speech broadcast on N1, Merkel encouraged the country to embrace social and economic reform to speed up the EU process.
In January, Bosnia’s Muslim, Serb and Croat leaders signed a declaration on implementing EU reforms but the Serbs revoked their commitment last month.
Merkel is visiting the region just before the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, where more than 8,000 Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serb troops in Europe’s worst atrocity since WWII.
She called on all sides in Bosnia to “make sure that such horrible events never happen again.”
Mladen Ivanic, who currently chairs the Bosnian presidency, said the forthcoming “harmonization” of the reform program would see Bosnia submit its EU membership application by the end of the year and expect to join in 2017.
