Cristian Dan Preda, Rapporteur for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Parliament, visits Islamic Community

Sarajevo, 5 april 2018 (MINA) – Cristian Dan Preda, Standing Rapporteur for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European Parliament, visited the Islamic community in B&H today. Mr. Dan Preda first visited the Interreligious Council in B&H, after which he spoke to Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Sciences in Sarajevo, professor Zuhdija Hasanović, and the faculty staff about starting a master's program in English and the process of implementation of a common interreligious study program of traditional religious communities in B&H.

After that, Dan Preda visitied the Gazi Husrev-bey Library. In his meeting with the Raisu-l-Ulama, they spoke about the future activities of the representative office of the IC in Brussels and the EU Parliament, as well as the role of religious communities in the process of EU integrations.

After his meeting with the Raisu-l-Ulama of the IC, Husein effendi Kavazović, Dan Preda said that he believes that B&H has all the necessary resources for becoming a member of the EU.

„Now it is up to Bosnia and Herzegovina, not the EU, to make that happen. The integration of B&H into the EU will be the result of the work of BH citizens, and we are waiting for you.“, he said for BH media and later he repeated the same message in his lecture for young people.

He pointed out that he was very happy for his meeting with Rais Kavazović, because all BH politicians are pessimistic and he needs to meet with religious leaders to find optimism.

In his statement for the media, Rais Kavazović said that he had spoken to Dan Preda about issues of relevance for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Islamic Community.

„We wanted him to encourage young peple to stay here, to fight for their country and help it develop.“, Kavazović emphasized.

He also added that he wantd Dan Poreda to tell the youth that the EU stands with B&H and that they are not left behind, and that will build their future in Europe.

Before Mr. Dan Preda's lecture, director of the Department of External Affairs and the Diaspora of the Riyasat of the Islamic Community in B&H, Ramiz Čolić, addressed the youth telling them that young people, and all others who love this country, are worried, and want to hear words of encouragement and support from Dan Preda. They are worried because they often hear messages from Europe that the fate of our country is in the hands of its people and its politicians. They are worried that this might not be completely precise. Many believe that people in Bosnia and Herzegovina will come together at the moment when radical nationalist policy-makers from neigboring countries accept the existence fo this country and give up their claims to its territory and their attempts to govern it as their protectorate and when they stop encouraging local politicians to view it as such, said Čolić. At the end of the lecture, Dan Preda answered young people's questions.