BOSNIAN POLITICAL LEADERS REJECT LAJCAK'S POLICE REFORM PROPOSAL

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (August 31,2007) – The leaders of two main Bosnian political parties have rejected a revised proposal on police reform put forward by the international community's High Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak,saying it failed to reach the European Union's stated aim of unifying Bosnia's police forces.

Lajcak had a meeting yesterday with the President of the Party for Bosnia (SBIH) and a member of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic and Sulejman Tihic, the President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA).After discussing the issue Silajdzic and Tihic rejected Lajcak's proposal on the police reforms in Bosnia.

"This is not a police reform, this is legalisation of the ethnically divided police forces. We cannot accept that," Sulejman Tihic, the president of the Party of Democratic Action, told reporters.

The EU has made police reforms and war crimes cooperation key conditions for Bosnia to seal an association agreement seen as the first step on the long path toward full EU membership.

Bosnia completed a final round of talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union in December last year, but was asked by Brussels to finalise the police reforms before being allowed to sign it.

Among the EU principles are state-level legislation, a federal budget and the establishment of new police regions to create a more functional force.

"Those principles were completely denied in Lajcak's proposal",the president of the Party for Bosnia (SBIH) and a member of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic said .

The Office of the international community's High Representative in Bosnia (OHR) dismissed the Bosnian leaders' criticism of Lajcak's proposal, which it said was not intended to be made public.

“I am deeply disappointed with statements made by SBiH and SDA leaders, Haris Silajdzic and Sulejman Tihic. By rejecting the draft proposal on police reform before all the major political leaders have even received it, they have demonstrated a disdain for their colleagues and the political process. They have broken their agreement to provide me with comments on the proposal directly, instead of communicating them through the media.

Furthermore, they have rejected a proposal that is fair and balanced and in line with the three EU principles. There are no losers in this proposal. The only winners would be the citizens of Bosnia, who would benefit from the initialling of Bosnia’s Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union. As you know, all my efforts are focussed on helping the Bosnian citizens get closer to the EU. This includes my proposal on police reform.

In order for Bosnia to progress, political leaders must think about the country as a whole, which unfortunately is not the case at this time,” the international community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajcak said,reacting to statements made by Haris Silajdzic and Sulejman Tihic yesterday.