The conference “The Western Balkans on the road to the EU”, held in Brussels, was organized by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Martens Centre. In the opening remarks by the representatives of organizers and the EU Parliament, it has been unanimously concluded that the biggest challenge for BiH is to establish the rule of law, fight against corruption and enable independent operation of the media. Within the panel “The rule of law and the future challenges and steps” member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Mladen Ivanić was speaking on the panel topic. The conclusion of the panel was brought by EU representatives who held that as soon as BiH applied for the EU membership the country should be making further efforts in order to truly be closer to the EU.

Representatives of ADI, Transparency International BiH, Mediacentre and Civil Rights Defenders had the opportunity to discuss on these issues before the conference with a number of representatives of the EU Parliament, and provide them with written submissions. Meetings were held with Mrs. Dubravka Šuica, Vice-President of the Delegation for relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and a Member of the Club of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats); Ana Laća, assistant of Tonino Picula, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; representatives of Croatia at the EU Parliament; Dr. Tobias Heider, representative of the Greens, Germany; Mr. Jasenko Selimović, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, Sweden;  and Rune Glasberg, ALDE, Finland.