The EU has developed a policy to support the gradual integration of the Western Balkan countries with the Union. The EU aims to promote peace, stability and economic development in the region&nbsp;and open up the prospect of EU integration.

In order to apply for EU membership a country has to be European and respect the EU’s democratic values. It also needs stable institutions guaranteeing democracy and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the ability to take on and carry out the obligations of EU membership.

Parliament is fully involved in the Stabilisation and Association Process &nbsp;and must also consent to any new accession to the EU. In addition, through its budgetary powers, it has direct influence over the amounts allocated to the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance. Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs appoints standing rapporteurs for all candidate and potential candidate countries. Parliament expresses its positions on enlargement in the form of annual resolutions responding to the Commission’s latest annual country reports.

On 1&nbsp;July&nbsp;2013, Croatia became the first of the seven countries to join, and Montenegro, Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania are official candidates. Accession negotiations and chapters have been opened with Montenegro and Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are potential candidate countries.

EU Enlargement - Western Balkans

AFET Working group on Western Balkans  - Exchange of views with Marta Kos, Commissioner for Enlargement on the state of play of the enlargement process with regard to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia

6th EU-Bosnia and Herzegovina Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee meeting

EP Plenary session - Recent devastating floods in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, including the EU-Bosnia and Herzegovina Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee and the EU-Kosovo Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee Constitutive meeting

4th EU-Bosnia and Herzegovina Stabitisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (SAPC)

EP Plenary session - 2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina

EP Plenary session - Commemorating Srebrenica 28 years anniversary

MEPs vote on the following topics : Guidelines for the 2026 budget (A10-0042/2025) Andrzej HALICKI.

Voting session - part 1

MEPs vote on the following topics: the Agreement on a Norwegian Financial Mechanism for the period May 2021 - April 2028 ; Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ; Cooperation between the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust) and the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina competent for judicial cooperation in criminal matters ; Strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens and of residence documents issued to Union citizens and their family members exercising their right of free movement

Voting session - part 2

MEPs vote on the following topics: Implementation of the common foreign and security policy – annual report 2024 ; Implementation of the common security and defence policy – annual report 2024 ; Human rights and democracy in the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter

Voting session - part 3

EP President, Roberta METSOLA, participates to the EU-Western Balkans Summit. Before her address to the Council, she speaks to the press. One year after the 2022 summit in Tirana, EU and Western Balkans leaders met in Brussels for their fourth annual summit. The summit is an opportunity to reaffirm the EU membership perspective of the Western Balkans and also the need for partners’ sustained and irreversible reform achievements, underpinned by EU values and principles.

EU-Western Balkans Summit: Doorstep by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

MEPs debate the 2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) m by the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). The report welcomes the European Council's decision to grant candidate status to BiH in the context of a changed geopolitical reality, on the understanding that a number of steps are taken to strengthen the country’s readiness for accession negotiations; reiterates its clear support for BiH’s EU integration, grounded in unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The report also recognises the importance of the Western Balkans in the EU’s enlargement policy, and urges the EU to accelerate the accession process for BiH, based on its own merits. Opening statement by Paulo RANGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, and by Olivér VÁRHELYI, EC for Neighbourhood and Enlargement. The transcript is the result of an automated process. Please check against delivery

2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina: Opening statement by Paulo RANGEL (EPP, PT), Rapporteur, and by and by Olivér VÁRHELYI, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement

MEPs debate the 2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) m by the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). The report welcomes the European Council's decision to grant candidate status to BiH in the context of a changed geopolitical reality, on the understanding that a number of steps are taken to strengthen the country’s readiness for accession negotiations; reiterates its clear support for BiH’s EU integration, grounded in unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The report also recognises the importance of the Western Balkans in the EU’s enlargement policy, and urges the EU to accelerate the accession process for BiH, based on its own merits. MEPs debate

2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina: MEPs debate

MEPs debate the 2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) m by the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET). The report welcomes the European Council's decision to grant candidate status to BiH in the context of a changed geopolitical reality, on the understanding that a number of steps are taken to strengthen the country’s readiness for accession negotiations; reiterates its clear support for BiH’s EU integration, grounded in unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The report also recognises the importance of the Western Balkans in the EU’s enlargement policy, and urges the EU to accelerate the accession process for BiH, based on its own merits. Closing by Olivér VÁRHELYI, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement and by Paulo RANGEL (EPP, PT)

2022 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina: Closing by Olivér VÁRHELYI, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement and by Paulo RANGEL (EPP, PT)

Roberta METSOLA, EP President gives a statement on Commemorating Srebrenica 28 years anniversary. Srebrenica massacre represents the slaying of more than 7,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) boys and men, perpetrated by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in July 1995. In addition to the killings, more than 20,000 civilians were expelled from the area—a process known as ethnic cleansing. The massacre, which was the worst episode of mass murder within Europe since World War II, helped galvanize the West to press for a cease-fire that ended three years of warfare on Bosnia’s territory. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

EU - Bosnia and Herzegovina (T)

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