Bosnia's EU Entry Process Slowed Down

After an unsuccessful conclusion to the police reform talks iin Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country's entry in the EU will be slowed down.

After the unsuccessful conclusion to the police reform talks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which ended in Sarajevo on Wednesday, on Thursday OHR spokeswoman Ljiljana Radetic told reporters in Banja Luka that Bosnia and Herzegovina would "face a significant slowdown in its efforts to build stronger bonds with the European Union (EU)." 

"The police reform is the key condition for the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. In an effort to make a progress in this matter, the High Representative and his deputy Rafi Gregorian had a series of consultations with BaH political leaders over the last several days. During those talks, the international community made it clear that the parties had to honour the commitments they had taken on by signing the political agreement in October 2005, and especially to adhere to the three principles of the EU in order to meet the conditions for the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement – Radetic said. She pointed out that, if no progress is made over the next few days and weeks, BaH would be faced with a slowdown in their efforts to come closer to the EU and it would continue to lag behind the countries in the region. 

"Montenegro will sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement on Thursday. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has already been given candidate status and Croatia is making huge steps toward full membership in the EU," said the spokeswoman for the OHR Banja Luka office. 

The High Representative and EU Special Representative Christian Schwarz-Schilling will meet with EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn in Sarajevo on Friday to discuss BaH's progress is meeting the criteria to sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement between BaH and the European Union. 

The last round of the negotiations sponsored by the Office of the High Representative (OHR) was concluded on Wednesday, without success, because the Serb Republic representatives would not agree to abolishing the Serb Republic police title.

The President of the Serb Republic Government Milorad Dodik said that the last concession he was willing to make was putting the Serb Republic police under its name within the structure of the Ministry of Security of BaH.

Dodik previously said that he was willing to renounce coming closer to the EU if abolishing the Serb Republic police was the price for it. 

Member of the BaH government Haris Silajdzic said that Bosniac parties insisted on the acceptance of the earlier report by the special commission for the police reform, which recommended a full abolishment of the Serb Republic police forces. He added that this was a "minimum of the minimum."