“No country has ever changed the name of its state simply to join an international organization. Macedonia did — and that decision made our country safer.”
But today, we are deeply concerned by the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The President of Republika Srpska is working to: Undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and to weaken state institutions, promote instability instead of pluralist politics and pass unconstitutional laws and develop an anti-Dayton constitution, directly threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country.
Furthermore, it is vital to emphasize why the Balkans are as necessary to Europe as Europe is to the Balkans. History provides us with profound lessons. The political 20th century began with the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 and concluded with the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995. Is this not a sufficient reminder that the stability of the Balkans must remain a European priority?
We are offering more than £15bn of UK Export Finance to the region, including up to £3bn in BiH alone, to help deliver major projects, and we are helping to find innovative solutions to urgent energy needs. Our companies are playing an important role in the development of industry in the region.
Together with our likeminded allies, the United States will continue to counter foreign malign actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina and to support leaders who seek to advance your country’s Euro-Atlantic future.
