Unite to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Union
28 June 2014. Appeal to the conscience of Europe for
admission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the European Union
Here, 20
years ago, the bombs rained from the skies.
Here, 20 years ago, snipers fired on people walking by.
Here, 20 years ago, ethnic cleansing unlike anything seen since World War II ravaged all of Bosnia.
And here, 20 years ago, an army of free citizens, faithful to the noblest anti-fascist traditions of Europe, resisted barbarism and ultimately defeated.
Here, 20 years ago, snipers fired on people walking by.
Here, 20 years ago, ethnic cleansing unlike anything seen since World War II ravaged all of Bosnia.
And here, 20 years ago, an army of free citizens, faithful to the noblest anti-fascist traditions of Europe, resisted barbarism and ultimately defeated.
During that time, Europe idly stood by.
Deaf to the appeals of her brothers in Sarajevo, Mostar, and Srebrenica, almost to the end Europe refused to employ her might.
Turning her back on her own past struggles for democracy and freedom, Europe acquiesced, with cynicism equaled only by her Munich-like complacency, to the slaughter of innocents.
And when she finally did intervene it was to impose, through the Dayton Accords, an iniquitous agreement that bought peace at the cost of partition and put in place an institutional mechanism that paralyzes and impoverishes the country, while preventing the reconciliation of hearts and minds from Sarajevo to Banja Luka to Mostar.
Deaf to the appeals of her brothers in Sarajevo, Mostar, and Srebrenica, almost to the end Europe refused to employ her might.
Turning her back on her own past struggles for democracy and freedom, Europe acquiesced, with cynicism equaled only by her Munich-like complacency, to the slaughter of innocents.
And when she finally did intervene it was to impose, through the Dayton Accords, an iniquitous agreement that bought peace at the cost of partition and put in place an institutional mechanism that paralyzes and impoverishes the country, while preventing the reconciliation of hearts and minds from Sarajevo to Banja Luka to Mostar.
This situation cannot continue
This political, moral, and historic mistake must be
remedied.
Our debt to Bosnia, a country that paid for nothing other than its unwavering fidelity to the values of democracy, cosmopolitanism, and multicultural tolerance — the values of Europe itself — must be settled.
And there is but one way for Europe to do that: to recognize that by its suffering no less than by its history, by its long tradition of openness to others no less than by its heroic resistance to the savage nationalism that almost destroyed it, this little country is fully, indisputably, and irreversibly part of the great family of friends of democracy and law that is the European family.
Our debt to Bosnia, a country that paid for nothing other than its unwavering fidelity to the values of democracy, cosmopolitanism, and multicultural tolerance — the values of Europe itself — must be settled.
And there is but one way for Europe to do that: to recognize that by its suffering no less than by its history, by its long tradition of openness to others no less than by its heroic resistance to the savage nationalism that almost destroyed it, this little country is fully, indisputably, and irreversibly part of the great family of friends of democracy and law that is the European family.
It is for that reason that friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina
hereby launch, here in Sarajevo, on this centenary of the unleashing of a
cataclysm which tore Europe apart and sank it into darkness, an appeal to all
Europeans of good will to support the prompt admission of the country of Ivo
Andric to full membership in the European Union.
Friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina reject the argument of those who, mistaking effect for cause, cite this or that constitutional provision imposed by the Dayton Accords as an excuse to defer the commencement of negotiations.
They protest the absurd and Kafkaesque logic that has for so many years kept this country, where the heart of Europe beats stronger than anywhere else, away from the European political space.
Friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina reject the argument of those who, mistaking effect for cause, cite this or that constitutional provision imposed by the Dayton Accords as an excuse to defer the commencement of negotiations.
They protest the absurd and Kafkaesque logic that has for so many years kept this country, where the heart of Europe beats stronger than anywhere else, away from the European political space.
And they therefore launch this petition which — by proposing
in part that the infamous “preconditions” invoked by Brussels should be made
part of the admission process rather than blocking it and that those
preconditions should not precede the process but rather become its first order
of business —advocates for the immediate and unconditional opening of
negotiations.
How many deaths had to occur before France and Germany
reconciled?
How many more years will Bosnia and Herzegovina have to wait because Europe refuses to face her guilty conscience?
How many more years will Bosnia and Herzegovina have to wait because Europe refuses to face her guilty conscience?
Let us put that guilty conscience behind us
Let us pay our debt to Bosnia and Herzegovina by finally
opening to it the doors of Europe.
Let us be a
million— plus you! — Europeans, consistent and determined to make their voices
heard by signing this appeal for a Europe of true solidarity with her Bosnian fellow
citizens.
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