Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 13/09/2022
Slovenian President Borut Pahor said after the meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that “there is a possibility that BiH will receive candidate status” for EU membership by the end of the year. Dozens of regional web portals shared the incorrect simultaneous translation of his statement.
On September 3, 2022, while reporting on the meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the President of Slovenia Borut Pahor, the Anadolu news agency published an article featuring the statements of two officials. The article includes the following statement made by President Pahor:
“I think there is a possibility that in the end all the leaders will agree that the door will be opened for Serbia to finish the accession negotiations faster and become a member of the EU, and that by the end of this week, Bosnia and Herzegovina will receive candidate status and that the EU will finally fulfill its visa obligation liberalization”, said Pahor.
A significant number of BiH media shared the article. Some web portals, such as N1, Oslobođenje, Bljesak, Politički, Herceg Bosna, Tip, Faktor and others, highlighted in their headlines the Slovenian president’s statement about the possibility of Bosnia and Herzegovina receiving candidate status in the European Union by the end of the week.
Web portal Pozitivna Srpska also took over the article, but the title omitted that it was a statement by the Slovenian president.
FINALLY! Next week, Bosnia and Herzegovina will get the status of a candidate for joining the EU!?
Web portals in the region, such as CDM, RTNK, Vijesti (.me), Dan.co.me and Insajder (.in), also published articles citing the Slovenian president’s statement on the possibility of BiH receiving candidate status for EU membership by the end of the week.
What are the facts?
On September 3, 2022, Borut Pahor, the President of Slovenia, met in Belgrade with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic. After the meeting, a press conference was held, where both presidents reflected on the topics they discussed.
The Serbian news agency Tanjug had a live broadcast with simultaneous translation of the speech of the Slovenian president, who commented on the European perspective of the countries of the Western Balkans. Pahor said on that occasion:
I think there is a possibility that all the leaders will agree on three things in the end. First, regarding the opening of the door for Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania to complete the accession process and become full members of the European Union, so that the process is accelerated by the end of the year. Second, that by the end of this year, Bosnia and Herzegovina will receive candidate status. And thirdly, that the European Union finally fulfills its obligation to liberalize the visa regime.
In Tanjug’s live broadcast, the translator incorrectly translated the word “year” as “week”. Numerous local and regional media picked up the incorrect translation from Tanjug.
In the title of the article by Pozitivna Srpska, the word “finally” was highlighted, and the information that it was a statement by the Slovenian president was omitted. Therefore, the title of this web portal suggests that it is a final and official decision of the European Union that decides on the candidate status of individual countries.
Some web portals shared the correct statement or subsequently informed readers that the article had been changed due to a mistake.
In an article published by the Federal Television web portal on September 3, 2022, it was stated that there was a translation error.
The information appeared in many media that the President of Slovenia announced that Bosnia and Herzegovina would receive candidate status for membership in the European Union by the end of the week. The correct information is that he said it would happen by the end of the year. The mistake happened during the simultaneous translation of the press conference in Belgrade, where the official translator made a mistake, which was taken over by the news agencies and then the BiH media.
Accurate information was shared by web portals Bosna Global, BH portal, Patria (NAP), Slobodna Bosna, Radio Sarajevo, Visoko and Radio Kontakt Plus.
Given all the facts, we assess the claim that President Pahor spoke about the possibility of BiH getting candidate status in the EU by the end of the week as a mistake.
We assess the title of the article published on the Pozitivna Srpska web portal as clickbait since it implies that it is an official decision on the candidate status of BiH.
