By Peter Truden
“Slovenia will not block the granting of candidate status to Ukraine, but this does not mean that Slovenia will not insist in regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina – we’ll persist until the morning, if necessary,” Robert Golob stressed at the EU summit on Thursday, and was then faced with a disappointing reality when his proposal did not get the support of the core European countries, but it did get the support of Hungary and Poland. He even commented on his defeat, saying that it was an “important step.”
At Thursday’s summit in Brussels, leaders from the member states of the European Union granted Ukraine and Moldova the candidate status for EU membership but failed to do the same for Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which the Slovenian Prime Minister, Robert Golob, tried particularly hard.
As Golob swore before the session, Bosnia and Herzegovina should be granted the candidate status today and without additional conditions that would make this status difficult in any way. He added that Ukraine is a story for itself, and that Slovenia will not block the granting of candidate status to this country under any circumstances. “But this does not mean that Slovenia will not insist in regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina – we’ll persist until the morning, if necessary,” Slovenian Prime Minister was clear. However, he was soon disappointed, as his initiative did not get the support of the other EU leaders. However, Golob turned his defeat into a victory with the words: “An important step has been made.”
The foreign policy weight of the Freedom Movement coalition is low
According to the media outlet N1, the idea of giving Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status was most opposed by the Netherlands, while Germany, Belgium and France, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, were also unsure of the idea. So, the core countries of the EU, with which the current Slovenian coalition claims we have excellent relations. The main reason that these four countries were not thrilled about the idea is that Bosnia and Herzegovina has done too little to gain the candidate status. According to N1, the Netherlands is particularly bothered by the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina has still not adopted a package of laws in the field of the rule of law.
Political analyst Miran Videtič commented on Golob’s “success” on Twitter, writing that a country with such “friends” is a lucky one. Namely, he wrote: “A country with such “friends” is a lucky one…
1. Tanja Fajon and the Freedom Movement party practically fall in love with Macron.
2. Tanja Fajon can call the German Chancellor Scholz any time.
3. Tanja Fajon bets on the cooperation with Benelux, which includes the Netherlands.
And Slovenia’s (or, rather, President Pahor’s) proposal on the unconditionality of the candidate status for Bosnia and Herzegovina is NOT, I repeat, NOT SUPPORTED by France, Germany and the Netherlands!
However, it is supported by Poland, Hungary, Croatia… “