SOLANA: BOSNIA NEEDS TO FOCUS ON EUROPEAN INTEGRATION

BRUSSELS, Belgium (September 18,2008) - The EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana said yesterday that he is not happy with the speed at which Bosnia is meeting its conditions for EU integration.

He said that three months had passed since Bosnia signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), but that there was no visible progress, only stagnation.

“The promised action plan has stopped and there is no progress. The signed agreement has not been ratified by Bosnia, and the monthly meetings of the Bosnian Council of Ministers on European integration issues have yet to prove their good intentions by being held on a regular basis,” Solana told Bosnian daily Dnevni Avaz.

He called on Bosnia’s political leaders to join forces for EU integration projects and not to allow Bosnia to fall behind.

“A lot more could have been done, and the European Commission report on Bosnia’s progress will give an objective evaluation on November 5,” Solana said.

He said that the forthcoming local elections in October would be a good chance to let voters have their say on what direction they wanted the country to take in future.

Solana said that he hoped that the majority of voters in Bosnia would take the opportunity to choose candidates in favor of a EU future.

He said that progress in Bosnia's European integration depended solely on meeting the necessary conditions, adding that the Bosnian constitutional reform must also be addressed.
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