Sarah speaks to the European Parliament about Bosnia and Herzegovina
Speech delivered on Wed 16th Jun 2010
Sarah Ludford, on behalf of the ALDE Group. - Madam President, Bosnia and Herzegovina incites, at least in me, feelings of both affection and frustration. It needs tough love from us and I think that is what it gets from Doris Pack.
The insistence on reform to make the state work properly is not because of some esoteric desire to dictate or to interfere. Commissioner Füle rightly talked about the economic conditions making the political difficulties more acute. A functional state is essential to welcoming investment, taking up EU funding and export opportunities, thus creating jobs. So reform and economic aspects are intertwined. We desperately need also the reforms to respect human rights and justice and fight corruption. I am very keen on visa-free travel, on the visa liberalisation, and I hope to help in the Foreign Affairs and Civil Liberties Committee to secure that, we hope, by the autumn. That would be very good news, I think, for Bosnian citizens.
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