Denis Bećirović, during his visit to Brussels, failed to secure a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, while a key message delivered at his meeting with Deputy Secretary General Radmila Šekerinska emphasized that Bosnia and Herzegovina can advance toward NATO membership only with internal consensus.
According to reports, Šekerinska clearly stated that institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina must first ensure internal political agreement and submit a formal application for membership, after which a more demanding phase of the accession process would follow.
Bećirović had presented Bosnia and Herzegovina’s activities on its NATO path, including reform programs, participation in peacekeeping missions, increased defense spending, and modernization of the armed forces. He also claimed that institutional-level agreement exists within the country regarding NATO accession.
He further pointed to public opinion polls suggesting that more than two-thirds of citizens support joining NATO, and highlighted continued support from the United States for NATO enlargement in the Western Balkans.
In response, Šekerinska welcomed progress but stressed the importance of adopting the Reform Program for 2026 in a timely manner and underlined that the key steps toward membership depend on the candidate country itself.
She reiterated that without internal political consensus—particularly agreement among representatives from Republika Srpska—the accession process cannot move from the technical to the political phase, effectively limiting further progress.
The message from Brussels indicates that, despite ongoing cooperation with NATO, Bosnia and Herzegovina is unlikely to receive an invitation for membership in the near term without a unified internal position.
Source: Glas Srpske
