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BiH given EU accession questionnaire

Xinhua, December 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn handed the government of Bosnia and Herzegovia (BiH) an EU questionnaire on the country's readiness to join the 28-member bloc here on Friday.

Denis Zvizdic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, received the questionnaire from Hahn, which contains 3,242 questions.

The BiH government must answer the questions in the next six months. The questionnaire will assess BiH's economy, compliance with human rights, the rule of law and other obligations required of countries wishing to become EU member states.

A successful questionnaire means BiH will be ready to move forward in the accession process, namely, to become a candidate country and open the accession negotiations.

"The questionnaire represents the most detailed, most complicated and most complex task for the institutions of BiH," Zvizdic told reporters after a meeting with Hahn.

Hahn stressed that the process of European integration was a process that would bring stability and security to BiH and the consequence of all this was to increase the level of welfare for BiH citizens.

"It is something that brings better prospects for BiH. It will bring jobs and very concrete benefits for the citizens," he said.

On Feb. 15 of this year, BiH formally submitted its application to join the EU.

The EU's 28 member states accepted BiH's EU membership application on Sept. 20 in Brussels and ordered the European Commission to prepare an assessment of the Balkan country's readiness to join the bloc. Endit