SARAJEVO: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged Bosnian leaders on Friday to work together to bring the country closer to membership of the European Union, after the bloc's executive arm recommended it be granted EU candidate status.
Bosnia applied to join the wealthy bloc in 2016 but its rival ethnic leaders have done nearly nothing to kick-off reforms that were set out as necessary for progress on the path to the EU.
Von der Leyen asked the leaders to come together to turn Bosnia, where nearly three quarters of the population support EU membership, "into a country of young people's dreams".
"The door of the European Union is open, please seize the opportunity and use this invitation, and it is up to you now," she told politicians and civil society activists during a visit to Sarajevo, a part of a tour of Western Balkan countries.
The commission this month recommended Bosnia be granted candidate status on the understanding that it reinforces democracy and takes other steps.
Over the past year, the Balkan country has been enduring its gravest political crisis since the end of the war in the 1990s, torn between secessionist policies of its Serb leader Milorad Dodik and quarrels between Bosniaks and Croats over election rules.
The EU Council of Ministers is due to vote on its candidacy status in December even though analysts doubt Bosnia will be able to tackle necessary reforms by then, especially as new governments have yet to be formed after an Oct. 2 election.
Von der Leyen said Bosnia would get 70 million euros ($69.5 million) from the EU's 500 million euro energy security package for the Western Balkans as immediate support for vulnerable families and firms.
She opened a tunnel on a pan-European highway that EU has helped to be built with 542 million euros in grants.
Von der Leyen calls on Bosnia leaders to unite around EU future
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Von der Leyen calls on Bosnia leaders to unite around EU future
- Bosnia applied to join the wealthy bloc in 2016
- Von der Leyen asked the leaders to come together to turn Bosnia "into a country of young people's dreams"
France investigates two Franco-Israelis for ‘complicity in genocide’
- The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report
PARIS: French authorities have issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for “complicity in genocide” over allegations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid entering conflict stricken Gaza, a legal source said Monday.
According to a lawyer for the NGOs that made a legal complaint last year, it is the first time that a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible “complicity in genocide.”
The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report.
The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention.
The pair are accused of seeking to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024 and in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts.
Olivier Pardo, a lawyer for Kupfer-Naouri, said the “pacifist” actions sought to condemn the “hijacking” of humanitarian aid by Hamas and other groups that launched the October 7, 2023 attacks that set off the Gaza war.
“If peacefully demonstrating with an Israeli flag against a terrorist organization seizing humanitarian aid, diverting it, and reselling it at exorbitant prices to Gazans is a crime — then there is no need to look down on the mullahs, France is Iran!” said Touitou, 34, on her social media account.
In an interview with The News website, Kupfer-Naouri, 50, called the French investigation “anti-semitic madness.”
Pardo said Kupfer-Naouri was in Israel but was ready to speak to French investigators there.
The two activists are also suspected of “public provocation for genocide” by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said.
Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people.
The complaints were made last year by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and the rights groups Al-Haq and Al-Mezan. Clemence Bectarte, a lawyer for the groups, said it was the first investigation of its kind in genocide law.
Other legal complaints have also been made in France for “war crimes” over the deaths of Franco-Palestinian children in Gaza in an Israeli bombing raid and against two Franco-Israeli soldiers who took part in operations in the territory.
Another complaint is over the Hamas attack that set off the war.
