Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-16-Speech-3-474"
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"en.20100616.30.3-474"2
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"Madam President, I should like to start by thanking the rapporteur, Mrs Pack, for her constructive cooperation.
As to Bosnia and Herzegovina: the country’s future lies in the European Union. However, to make that future a reality, its political leaders must show common will and resolve and refrain from using nationalistic polarising rhetoric. The Bosnian people must no longer be held to ransom by the unwillingness of their political leaders. In the field of visa liberalisation, concerted efforts towards reform have indeed proved possible, and visa-free travel to Europe is now within reach for Bosnians.
Yet not only reforms are required on the path towards the EU. It is also important to be a well-functioning state for citizens; a country in which all citizens can participate, irrespective of the group or minority they belong to. The European Court of Human Rights has held that the Bosnian Constitution violates human rights, and it urgently needs to be amended so that all Bosnians have the right to vote and stand for election.
I cannot stress enough the importance of regional cooperation in the Western Balkans in the interests of stability and progress. The Balkan countries have a responsibility to one another to make progress in harmony. Where there are disputes with neighbouring countries, as in the case of Croatia’s planned construction of the Pelješac bridge, a negotiated solution is to be found.
Finally, I should like to emphasise that it is of the utmost importance to Bosnia and Herzegovina that it come to terms with the wars of its past. Women who were victims of rape and other sexual violence during the war deserve justice. Bosnia and Herzegovina must punish the perpetrators and give these women more support. This July, it will have been 15 years since the dreadful genocide in Srebrenica. That tragic occurrence must occupy a place in the collective memory of the Balkans. The various resolutions adopted by parliaments in the Western Balkans are most welcome in that context, and the apologies made recently by the President of Croatia for Croatian policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war were also an important gesture and a step towards ethnic reconciliation in the Balkans."@en1
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