Historical perspectives of euro-atlantic path on republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract: After the NATO summit in Bucharest 2008 year, focus of NATO discussions on issues for further enlargement has been on considering the opportunities for admission of interested countries with an Action Plan for membership in NATO of SEE including Bosnia and Herzegovina.n Bosnia and Herzegovina's road to EU in our paper will be analyzed through the following key events: 2008 entry in force on internal agreement with EU for stabilization and association, 2010 visa liberalization with EU, 2015 full implementation of Stabilization and Association Agreement, February 2016 Bosnia and Herzegovina submits its application for EU membership, September 2016 European Council invites European Commission to give its opinion on EU membership application. Parallel on Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina way to EU also NATO path will be analyzed. Integration path to NATO has been set through more scientific variables which are fundamental basic conditions for NATO integration: political, economic, judicial reforms, defense reforms, interior ministry and so on. An analysis and assessment will be make from strategic position in relation with following variables: projection of overall defense forces, internal borders, new types of threats to national security, deterrence ability, influence on EU and NATO's cohesion. Comparison of defense spending will be make with NATO member states from SEE: Republic of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. Research analysis also will be make from: World bank, EU commission, Freedom House estimates and other international organizations for overall analysis and assessment on fulfillment of basic criteria for membership in NATO and EU: political, economic, military and final observations based on numerical parameters for final assessments of meeting criteria for NATO and EU membership for short term period of next five years till 2024 year. Key words: criteria, challenges, NATO, EU, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH