Book launch: Bosnia and Herzegovina and European Integration. Challenges and Obstacles
On 26 April 2023, the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA) held the launch of the book entitled “Bosnia and Herzegovina and European integration. Challenges and obstacles”. The volume was presented by the editors, Dženita Šiljak, Assistant professor at the Corvinus University of Budapest and Associate Research Fellow of HIIA, and Kristian L. Nielsen, Research Fellow at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies. The event was moderated by Julianna Ármás, Research Fellow of HIIA. The book was published with the support of the International University of Sarajevo and was inspired by the complex political, economic, and social issues of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s integration into the EU.
The events of the Yugoslav wars and their aftermath, the contradictions of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the complex state apparatus are the most frequently discussed aspects of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While it is essential to be aware of these factors to understand the functioning of the country, the authors mainly focused on the economic and structural factors that are crucial to its Euro-Atlantic integration.
Kristian L. Nielsen stressed that Bosnia and Herzegovina still needs to catch up in all areas of EU integration, from human rights and minority protection to fight against corruption and strengthening the judiciary system. For further development, decreasing bureaucracy and attracting foreign direct investment is essential.
According to Dženita Šiljak, a significant amount of investment and foreign capital flows into the services sector. However, the GDP growth requires strengthening the industry and those areas of the market that can create a competitive labour market for the population. The “prominent role” of corruption is also discussed in a separate chapter in the volume, which illustrates its impact during the COVID-19 pandemic through a case study.
The authors agreed that the Balkan country would currently be unable to compete in the EU common market, and that the presence of foreign investors is negatively affected by the unstable security environment and the country’s structural problems. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still far from EU membership, and the candidate status reached in December 2022 is merely a symbolic step.
Photos by Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA)