Based on a report by Doris Pack; Olli Rehn noted that 2006 was not a good year for BiH in terms of reforms; therefore, they will not be signing the SAA which is a step on the road to membership in the EU. Specifically, the issue of police reform was mentioned as being an obstacle.
To be even more specific, the issue seems to derive from Dodik's unwillingness to put the RS police force under the BiH Ministry of Security; as he has noted in the past that he is willing to forgo relations with the EU if it means protecting the independence of the RS police force.
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What do you think about the claim that EU tries to build a "Christian Europe" by excluding Turkey, Albania and Bosnia.
Didn't France's PM Dominique de Villepin say something about that not too long ago?
From the looks of accession processes as they currently stand, I can see why there is concern about whether the EU is negotiating in bad faith with Sarajevo.
You might want to add Macedonia to the group that may be left out, as its accession process remains frozen, while Croatia, Serbia (if a new government is ever formed) and Montenegro are all being rushed along the membership path.
What do you think about the claim that EU tries to build a "Christian Europe" by excluding Turkey, Albania and Bosnia.
There is no doubt that some politicians are playing this game. But I dont think Bosnia is particularly included in that group. Because of recent history even the intollerant in Europe will have a hard time preventing Bosnia from EU membership.
The biggest problem at the moment at least is Bosnia itself. The same is true for Serbia - but for different reasons.
Look at the Croatian situation if you are not convinced. It is a christian state and yet some EU politicians dont want Croatia in the EU.
What are the reasons given for those who don't want to have Croatia in the EU?
There is no doubt that some politicians are playing this game. But I dont think Bosnia is particularly included in that group. Because of recent history even the intollerant in Europe will have a hard time preventing Bosnia from EU membership.
But given recent history, and in particular, Western Europe (particularly France and Britain) policy towards Bosnia during the war; I'm not sure if I would come to such a positive conclusion. I hope I'm wrong though.
Remember it took Europe a LONG time to come to Bosnia's help, and the U.S. for that matter, late in Clinton's second term.
I don't trust Europe in this matter. I do think there is a definate effort to keep Europe 'Christian'. Never mind that it is a debased Christianity.
As for why some might oppose Croatian membership in the E.U., there is corruption in the society, in the business and political sectors. A lot of Croatians are backing off from wanting in on the E.U. due to some regulations that regular people there oppose. No one objects to regulation of G.M. foods, but things like not being able to make your own rakija upset people. I don'[t blame them. Just because Northern Europeans don't know what they are doing is no reason to mess with how things are done in the Balkans.
Those who express a position against Croatia joining the EU tend to be anti-expansion in general - it tends not to be anything Croatia specific, they don't want any new states joining the EU in the near future.
Meanwhile, those who point to technical issues such as reform of the judiciary and tackling corruption tend to support Croatia's bid in principle, but believe Croatia should be held to a higher criteria than the 2007 accession states.
That said, Croatia is lucky in the sense that it can be considered de facto part of the Union already in the sense that Croatian citizens enjoy visa free travel throughout the Union and can enter countries like Italy without even having to bring a passport along (ID cards are sufficient.) Whereas of course with all other accession states this is not the case.
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