FBiH ENTITY PARLIAMENT ACCEPTED JOINT POLICE REFORM CONCLUSIONS OF SDA, SBiH AND SDP

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (September 28,2007) – SDA Party delegates, as well as the SBiH and SDP BiH Party delegates, formulated joint conclusions at the emergency session of the FBIH Entity Parliament’s House of Representatives that was held on Wednesday. The session solely focused on the police reform.

The SDA and SBiH suggested joint conclusions at first, and the opposition party SDP added some of their own. These conclusions were made a document and were sent to the delegates for procedure.

Majority of delegates approved the conclusions. Majority of the political parties of the croatians living in Bosnia did not support the conclusions, as well as the Bosnian Patriotic Party “Sefer Halilovic” delegates.

The conclusions state that the FBIH Entity Parliament's House of Representatives asks the Bosnian Council of Ministers, the OHR and all the representatives participating in the process of police reform negotiations, to ensure the implementation of the three basic EU principles: that all legislative and budget jurisdictions are passed to the state level, that police work is not interfered with politics and that the functional police jurisdiction and competences are to be determined on the basis of the technical criteria. The operative command is to be formed at the local level.

The FBIH Entity Parliament expects all the participants in the police reform to accelerate the reform, fully respecting the EU principles and the European Parliament’s Resolution passed March 15 2007.

As a part of the FBIH Entity Parliament, one of the legislative organs in Bosnia which has accepted the Agreement on Reorganization of Police Structures, HoR demands an efficient implementation of the process of police reform and its synchronization with the Bosnian state institutions, in accordance with the constitutional and legislative jurisdictions, obligations and responsibilities, for the benefit of all the Bosnian citizens.

Keeping in mind the importance of police reform, active and coordinated relationship with the International Community, the High Representative, NATO and Elections commission is of the essence.

This emergency session was held a week prior to the High Representative’s address to the FBIH Entity Parliament’s delegates.The International Community's High Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak is to address the assembly October 2.

Some information have leaked that Lajcak could pass the address on Tuesday, but the OHR announced that the speech will be postponed.

38 delegates of the FBIH Entity Parliament’s House of Representatives demanded the emergency session on September 14.

At the beginning of the session, SBiH delegate Mehmed Zilic stated that Lajcak’s document is unacceptable.

He said that the protocol is contradictory in certain segments. It is clear that it foresees the survival of the genocidal "police" of the Serbians living in Bosnia ("the RS police") and that the FBIH police will be eliminated.

Mate Franjicevic, on behalf of the Croat parties’ coalitions, stated that Lajcak’s document should be approved.

The FBIH Entity Parliament is to further discuss the police reform at the October 2 session, when the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia is to address the delegates.