The House of Representatives of the German Parliament has today at its regular session in Berlin ratified the Stabilization and Association Agreement of BiH with the EU. It is expected that at the beginning of April, this year, this will also be done by the Upper House (House of federal provinces). After the SAA with BiH has been verified by the Bundesrat, document needs to be sent formally to the signature to the president of the FR Germany, Horst Koehler.
In the statement for Fena, Deputy Ambassador of BiH in the FR Germany, Amer Kapetanović, who has been present at the session of the Bundestag, has said:
"The job has not been done by this, but we have succeeded very fast to pass more than a half of the path. We have definitely removed the danger of our ratification to go back to the beginning because of the upcoming elections in the FR Germany. That is why I consider this a big verification of the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina; especially in the moment when because of the certain political circles to the EU and Germany are arriving proposals on need to slow down the process of enlargement of the EU. Despite the problems, we have succeeded to show that we are a responsible partner to our friends in Bundestag. This has shown how significant was forming of the parliamentary group for BiH in the House of Representatives of the German Parliament."
According to available information, BiH has in this way become a characteristic curiosity of German parliamentary practice, because it is about one of the fastest ratifications in history of the EU. The Government has in the middle of January of this year sent the official ratification proposal to the Bundestag. Relevant parliamentary authorities have deliberated on it very quickly, and it has been inserted into the regular March plenary session. Just to compare, Macedonia has waited a few years, Albania more than three years, Croatia and Slovenia have waited longer than a year on ratification of the SAA. This is the second one such curiosity, because thanks to the engagement of the BiH Embassy, parliamentary group for BiH in Bundestag has been formed on a half of the elective mandate, by which along with Croatia and Slovenia BiH has become the only country of former Yugoslavia, by including Albania as well, which has received its own parliamentary group in Bundestag.
As from now, BiH could by June or by September of this year at the latest, count on ratification of the SAA in Germany.