OLLI REHN : BOSNIA AND EUROPEAN UNION COULD SIGN STABILISATION AND ASSOCIATION AGREEMENT BY END OF YEAR

BRUSSELS, Belgium (November 29,2007) – The Mostar Declaration and the Sarajevo Agreement could be the basis for initialing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Bosnia and the European Union.This was revealed by the EU Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, as he met in Brussels with the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak.

Lajcak said, after a meeting with the European Parliament's Foreign Policy Council, that the goal of Bosnia is to continue integrating into the European Union.He confirmed his readiness to use his “authority as long as the political and institutional deadlock exists.”

Welcoming the willingness of the most influential political parties in Bosni to return to the EU agenda, Lajcak and Rehn stressed the need to normalize the political situation in the country and get back to work.

The International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak met with the European Commissioner for Enlargement as part of a one-day visit to the EU capital, where he also addressed the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament.

The Action Plan agreed by party leaders in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo on 23 November builds on the Mostar declaration and is a further step in the right direction, but it is too early to provide an assessment of the process,Lajcak said.

“The objective must be to improve the political situation and focus on the reform agenda. Discussion, agreement and comprise is the European way”, Lajcak said following his meeting with Commissioner Rehn.

In his address to EU parliamentarians, Lajcak provided an assessment of the economic and political situation in Bosnia, arguing that the European integration process is the best way to reform the country’s systems of administration and government.

By failing to reach an agreement on police reform in September, political leaders in Bosnia rejected a commitment they made to the EU two years ago. It is in this context that the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak acted on 19 October to enhance the functionality of the Bosnian Government and Parliament.

“If there is no European process to improve the functionality of the Bosnian state, this can and must be addressed through the existing framework of the Dayton Peace Agreement,” Lajcak said.

The measures will enable the Bosnian Government and the legislature to tackle the huge backlog of business that must be dispatched to address Bosnia’s pressing social and economic needs, as well as the massive legislative agenda that accompanies EU integration, Lajcak said.

He also made clear that, as soon as Bosnia's political leaders start to resolve the political gridlock in Bosnia on their own, it will no longer be necessary for interventions by the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia,Lajcak said.

"The International Community is not just a bystander in the politics of Bosnia ; it has invested enormous financial and political capital in the rebuilding of the country and its institutions; it is a guarantor of the settlement that has maintained peace in the country for more than a decade, and it must show that it continues to take this duty seriously," the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak concluded.