Parliamentarians from six Balkans countries remember the Dayton peace accord

USPA NEWS - On the 25th anniversary of the peace accords, that ends the Balkans war in Europe, parliamentarians from across the old continent deliberate on this Tuesday the future of the Western Balkans. Together with members of EU national parliaments and EU aspirant countries, MEPs will consider the implications of the Dayton peace accord, that a quarter of a century ago put an end to war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They will examine the prospects of reconciliation, democratic transformation, and economic development across the Western Balkans. Members of parliament from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia have been invited to join the remote discussion with Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi and Miroslav Lajčák ““ EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and the Western Balkans. The High Representative Josep Borrell will address the meeting in a pre-recorded video.

The Dayton Peace Agreement was reached in November 1995. It ended the bloodiest series of wars in Europe since the Second World War, killing over 100,000 people, leading to the Srebrenica genocide, and forcing millions out of their homes. While the Accord prevented further conflict, it did not enable a genuine reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also known as the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA), Dayton Accords, Paris Protocol or Dayton-Paris Agreement, is the peace agreement reached at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, United States, in November 1995, and formally signed in Paris on 14 December 1995. These accords put an end to the 3 1⁄2-year-long Bosnian War, one of the armed conflicts in the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. The current Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Annex 4 of the DPA.