Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU: European Path and Obstacles on the Way to Membership

Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU: European Path and Obstacles on the Way to Membership

Nedžma Džananović
IDEFE Publications, 2025
32 pp.
ISBN: 978-608-4944-25-6
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Abstract: This analysis critically examines Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) troubled and prolonged journey toward European Union (EU) membership, arguing that while unprecedented geopolitical shifts have created a new window of opportunity for enlargement, the outcome for BiH remains elusive. Despite achieving candidate status and opening accession negotiations in 2024, BiH grapples with entrenched ethnic divisions, political instability, and institutional dysfunction. Although geopolitical developments, particularly following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, have intensified EU engagement with the region, they have simultaneously exposed persistent inconsistencies in the Union’s enlargement policies and conditionality frameworks. The study scrutinizes the EU’s dual role as both a normative and security actor, highlighting contradictions within its approach, and evaluates the extensive yet politically conditioned economic and financial cooperation between BiH and the EU. Furthermore, it analyzes evolving public attitudes toward the EU, noting a steady decline in support—especially within Republika Srpska Entity—driven by rising Euroskepticism and growing security concerns. By mapping these dynamics, the analysis concludes that without a coherent, values-driven EU strategy and credible, proactive reforms by BiH’s leadership, the country’s European aspirations risk remaining perpetually out of reach.

Keywords: Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), European Union (EU), Geopolitical shifts