EU en NAVO waarschuwen Bosnië-Herzogivina opnieuw (en)
Bosnian leaders should improve the political climate in their country and bring a halt to their inflammatory rhetoric or they risk slowing down Bosnia's European Union integration, both the EU and NATO said in a new warning to Sarajevo on Monday (22 June).
"It is an objective that Bosnia-Herzegovina will be able to come closer to the European Union institutions and to the Euro-Atlantic institutions," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told journalists after meeting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer i in Brussels.
"[But] we would like to see everybody, leaders in particular, behave in a way that makes that journey as short as possible," he added.
Mr de Hoop Scheffer echoed the statements, and stressed that Bosnia's Euro-Atlantic integration went hand in hand with an improvement of the country's political climate.
"The political rhetoric and the political circumstances in Bosnia-Herzegovina [at the moment] are a reason for concern ... Not everything is right at this very moment," he said.
"I hope that we will see an improvement in the coming period."
The comments come as the situation in Bosnia continues to deteriorate with spats between the country's leaders increasingly common.
In addition, the parliament of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serbian entity, which is pushing for an increased level of autonomy for the country's entities as opposed to more federal powers – last month passed a resolution that revoked what it saw as a transfer of power from the republic to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Office of the High Representative – the international body overseeing Bosnia's government – had already declared the Republika Srpska document in violation of both its authority and of Bosnia's constitution. It asked the Republika Srpska Assembly to abolish or change it by 11 June.
But the Republika Srpska leadership ignored the demand and went further by publishing the resolution in the Official Gazette, making it official and legally binding.
On Saturday, Valentin Inzko, the international and EU high representative in Bosnia, said he was annulling the Bosnian Serb document. Mr Inzko was acting under his so-called Bonn powers, which, under the Dayton Peace agreements that ended the war in Bosnia, give him important executive authority.
"I fully support the decision by Ambassador Valentin Inzko to use the Bonn Powers to annul the conclusions of the Republika Srpska National Assembly. These conclusions were not acceptable," Mr Solana stated in response.
"All efforts had been done not to reach that point. It was the only possible solution. This is a decision and responsibility of the Office of the High Representative, not an EU competence, but we fully support it," he added.
For his part, Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik said Mr Inzko's decision was "designed to suspend basic human and democratic freedoms."
Last week, the EU had also expressed concern at the worsening political situation in Bosnia.
"The Council [EU member states] expressed concern at the unconstructive political atmosphere and the recent actions challenging the Dayton Peace Agreement. The Council called upon all the political leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to refrain from nationalist rhetoric, and genuinely focus on bringing forward the necessary reform agenda in the general interest of the country and its citizens," EU foreign ministers gathered in Luxembourg said on 15 June.
The ministers also re-affirmed the EU's commitment to a stronger role in Bosnia and said the transition from the Office of the High Representative to a re-inforced EU presence "could be within reach in the months ahead."
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