Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European integration process has been marked by prolonged stagnation despite occasional formal steps forward. Since the submission of the application for membership in 2016 and the granting of candidate status in 2022, the key Cluster 1 – Fundamentals1 remains the area in which BiH demonstrates the least reform momentum. The European Commission’s annual reports from 2016 to 2024 consistently repeat the same recommendations, highlighting political blockades, a fragmented institutional framework, and systemic corruption risks.
These problems have also been continuously highlighted by the alternative reports of the Initiative for Monitoring the European Integration of BiH, which for nearly a decade have served as an independent mirror of the process. These reports add dimensions that the European Commission often addresses only partially, such as the social and human consequences of stagnation: discrimination against minorities, delays in transitional justice processes, and the systemic absence of equal opportunity policies. Civil society analyses clearly underline that stagnation in European integration is not merely an administrative challenge, but a continuation of political and social divisions rooted in the post-war period.
This report has been prepared using a multilayered analytical approach that brings together the institutional and societal perspectives on the European integration process in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The report integrates insights from the European Commission’s official Bosnia and Herzegovina Progress Reports for the period 2016–2025, the alternative reports prepared by the Initiative for Monitoring the European Integration of BiH over the same period, and findings collected through consultative discussions with civil society organisations monitoring developments in the areas of the rule of law, public administration, fundamental rights, media, public finance, and the European integration process.
Author: Sanja Ramić
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Organisations that contributed to the report: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network BiH, BH Journalists, Centre for Investigative Reporting, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Banja Luka, MyRight – Empowers People with Disabilities, ProPeace, Sarajevo Open Centre, Transparency International in BiH, Association Kali Sara, Vaša prava BiH, Zašto ne