LAJCAK ADDRESSED UN SECURITY COUNCIL

NEW YORK, USA (November 17,2007) - The measures taken on 19 October have brought the poisoned political atmosphere in Bosnia into the open, the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia, Miroslav Lajcak, told the UN Security Council in New York.The current dysfunctionality of the Bosnian State has poisoned the political atmosphere.Bosnians “cannot be expected to put up with corruption, poverty, and the chronic inefficiency of government institutions and public services indefinitely, also preventing country’s smooth progress towards European Union,” he said.

To tackle Bosnia’s underlying problems the artificially created political crisis related to the Bosnian Government must be overcome,Lajcak said.

“This is a part of the broader situation in the Western Balkans and requires the full attention of the International Community,” said the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia,Miroslav Lajcak said in his address to the UN Security Council.

Lajcak told the UN Security Council that the International Community has assessed that the time is not right to leave Bosnia.Local ownership remains the goal, but with local ownership comes a responsibility for local leaders to make the necessary political compromises required in a modern democratic state.

“The International Community is not a bystander in the politics of Bosnia; it is a guarantor of the settlement that has maintained peace in the country for more than a decade,” said the High Representative Lajcak in his hour-long address to the UN Security Council.

“It is clear that the Office of the International community's high Representative in Bosnia (OHR) still has a substantial role to play,” said Lajcak adding that “my full mandate as the High Representative remains”.

None of the measures taken by the High Representative on 19 October eliminate the entities’ rights, nor do they affect any element of protection afforded to Bosnia’s constituent peoples.

“My recent amendments facilitate the work of the Bosnian Council of Ministers and will be a positive recommendation for OHR’s closure when the time comes to discuss that transition. For now, though, that discussion is a long way off,” said Lajcak.

The High Representative informed the UN Security Council that Bosnia is now the only country in the Southeastern Europe not to have a formal, contractual relationship with the EU despite the support of the clear majority of Bosnian citizens for this process.

The leaders of Bosnia who participate in the Bosnian Government have blocked the road to EU; at the same time the country cannot simply stand still when half of all Bosnian citizens live on or below the poverty line.

Lajcak announced three key areas in which he has focussed to build a functional Bosnia; Police reform so that the Stabilisation and Association Agreement can be signed, the arrest and transfer to the Hague of the remaining individuals indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and Constitutional reform, which must be launched in order to improve the functionality of the state and its institutions.

Noting that the UN Security Council will discuss an extension of the EUFOR mandate the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia said that EUFOR remains a key guarantee that the political issues that must be addressed as part of Bosnia’s post-war recovery will be addressed in a safe and secure environment.

“Compromise and agreement is possible – we saw this recently with the Mostar Declaration on police reform and with the adoption of a new Economic Platform by the State and Entity Prime Ministers a few weeks ago,” said Lajcak.

“Now, there are two options: escalation or deflation. Local actors can continue to act in bad faith and continue to escalate the situation, or they can act in good faith, and direct Bosnia back onto its EU path.”