LAJCAK SECURES BACKING FOR REFORM

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 2,2007) - The International Community's High Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak has won backing for his reform efforts from the group that appointed him as the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia, the Peace Implementation Council (PIC).

The group, which comprises 55 states and international agencies overseeing Bosnia's postwar development supported his "decisions and proposed actions," and specifically his planned changes to the quorum needed to pass decisions in the Bosnian Government and legislation in the Bosnian Parliament.

"The only objective of these measures is to streamline the decision-making process in the Bosnian Council of Ministers and the Bosnian Parliament and they are necessary to speed up the reform process," the PIC said in a statement released at the end of a two-day meeting in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

"Decisions of the high representative must be fully respected and promptly implemented," it said.

Speaking at a news conference Lajcak said, "reactions to my decisions are out of proportion and have caused an artificial crisis that could stop any progress."

The PIC's decision was endorsed by Russia, which added a note to the statement in which it criticized Lajcak's timing. Lajcak should seek to improve the performance of Bosnia's state institutions "in a more stable context," it said.