FOOD PRICES RISING IN BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 18,2007) - The biggest political crisis since the end of the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia has sent the cost of basic food items in Bosnia rocketing.

"The political crisis in Bosnia is fairly serious, however,it is fabricated and everything is connected to the issue of Kosovo, a member of the Bosnian Presidency Haris Silajdzic said earlier this week.

The Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz said that, since the end of September, the price of butter has gone up by more than 65 percent.

According to the Bosnian Bureau of Statistics, the monthly cost of living in Bosnia for a family of four was 610 euros ($894) in October, including 302 euros ($486) for food alone. The average salary for the same month was 333 euros ($440), it said.

"The obvious nonfunctioning of Bosnian state institutions has poisoned the political atmosphere. Citizens cannot cope with corruption, poverty and chronic failure of state institutions to function," the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia,Miroslav Lajcak, said.

The country often falls into political crisis, but the recent one seems to be the most serious. It was sparked last month when Lajcak proposed new rules designed to strengthen the ability of the Bosnian Government and the Bosnian Parliament to enact reforms that will lead to Bosnian membership in the European Union.

The proposals will change the way a quorum is calculated, to make it more difficult for the political representatives of the Serbians living in Bosnia to block decisions simply by not showing up. The Bosnian Parliament has until Dec. 1 to adopt the changes or the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia will impose them.

Serbians living in Bosnia fear the changes could lead to the end of their genocidal creature in Bosnia ("RS"). Their political representatives said if Lajcak doesn't withdraw the proposal, they will all resign from their posts in the Bosnian Government.

Bosnian politicians and the political representatives of the Croatians living in Bosnia support the proposal since it is in line with their goal to erase the Bosnia's internal division and unify the country.