(15 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin, Germany – 15 October 2024
1. German Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, and Bosnia and Herzegovina Defence Minister, Zukan Helez, during welcome ceremony
2. Mid of military band playing
3. Pistorius and Helez watching military band as it pass by during cereony
4. Pistorius and Helez arriving at podiums for press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (Bosnian), Bosnia and Herzegovina defense minister Zukan Helez:
"We talked about the NATO path for Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have established that there are certain blockades from the smaller Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, Republika Srpska, and that is the one Russian influences through Milorad Dodik. This is on a daily basis and is felt in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, above all in the Council of Ministers and both houses of the Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are constant blockades not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but the Russian influence is spreading in other parts of the Western Balkans.”
6. Pistorius and Helez during press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (Bosnian) Bosnia and Herzegovina defense minister Zukan Helez:
"What is very important is that we concluded that Bosnia and Herzegovina has no alternative to NATO integration and integration into the European Union. The key foreign policy goal of Bosnia and Herzegovina is membership of the European Union, of course, with all the conditions that the European Union requires us to fulfil. And undoubtedly, as my colleague, the minister of defence for Germany, said, we are part of the European family. That’s how we feel and that’s how we live.”
8. Pistorius and Helez leaving press conference
STORYLINE:
Bosnian Defence Minister Zukan Helez on Tuesday stressed the country had "no alternative" other than joining NATO and the European Union.
"We are part of the European family. That’s how we feel and that’s how we live,” Helez told reporters during visit to Berlin.
Helez met his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, in the German capital where he said both ministers discussed Bosnia’s integration into NATO and European Union.
European Union leaders agreed in principle in March this year to open membership negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In 2022, Bosnia was granted candidate status.
In order to join the EU, candidate countries must go through a lengthy process to align their laws and standards with those of the bloc and show their institutions and economies meet democratic norms.
Bosnia is riven by ethnic divisions, even decades after the 1992-95 war that tore the country apart, leaving more than 100,000 people dead and millions displaced.
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