Speaking to reporters, Bildt said he had just arrived from Brussels where EU foreign ministers had reaffirmed their readiness to admit new members.
It was emphasised that the door of the European Union would remain open to Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. It is important both for the EU and the countries in the region, which have to maintain a serious approach to the reforms. It's up to the European Union to keep up the pace of this process, he said.
Bildt, who had served as the international community's first High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996, warned that this was an important message that should be taken seriously by some politicians in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Asked what his message would be to politicians such as Bosnian Serb premier Milorad Dodik who were now threating to compromise the country's efforts to get closer to the EU in order to preserve the Bosnian Serb police force, Bildt said such rhetoric reminded him of 1991.
My message to people like that is: if you dig yourself in the trenches of the past, you will stay there, he said.
Bildt said this meant Bosnia-Herzegovina would definitely lag behind Croatia, which he said was already on the road to EU membership, and Serbia, which he said had made great progress in economic reform.