JAKARTA - EU leaders agreed to make Bosnia and Herzegovina an official candidate to join the country's 27 bloc on Thursday.
"Bossnia and Herzegovina were given the status of candidate countries today. A strong signal to the people, but also a clear hope for the new authorities to realize reforms," EU Council President Charles Michel said in a post on Twitter.
The European Union's ministers of general affairs approved the status of candidates for Bosnia earlier this week.
With this status, Bosnia will join other candidates such as Albania, Moldova, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine, in the process of joining the European Union, which could take years and involve complicated negotiations to adapt local laws to suit the country's group.
Bosnia proposed to join the European Union in 2016, but has lagged behind the reforms set out as necessary to advance to the European Union, over disputes with Serbian, Croatian and ethnic Bosnian leaders.
The decision to grant candidate status was primarily driven by fears of instability created by war in Ukraine, which could spread to the volatile Western Balkan region.
"With today's decision, we have shown that we understand the challenges faced by Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as the entire WestLAN," said Robert Golob, the Slovenian prime minister who has strongly lobbied for the decision.
"Providing candidate status is a signal much needed by a third country, whose malicious influence has increased over the years, that we will not allow their negative policies and narratives to apply in Western Congress," Golob said.
Meanwhile, Bosnian international peace envoy Christian Schmidt said the awarding of candidate status was a " once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for the Balkan nation, urging political leaders to prove they could move Bosnia beyond its political and economic dysfunctions.
Denis Becirevic, a member of the Bosnian tripartite presidency, said the decision was encouraging.
"(Giving) candidate status is a step forward towards the European integration process, although there is still a lot of work left until the opening of EU membership negotiations for our country," Becirevic said in a statement.
Separately, analysts say the decision has matured for a long time.
"It's great that it finally happened," said Adi Cerimagic, a senior analyst at the Berlin-based European Stability Initiative (ESI) think tank.
"But that won't allow citizens to move more freely or goods produced in Bosnia are sold more easily, and that won't open up new EU funds either," he continued.
Most of the residents echoed his words.
"I don't expect much to join the EU," said Haris Dzonlic, a Sarajevo resident.
"I don't see the status of these candidates will greatly improve our lives and the standards of ordinary people here," he said.
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