NATO AND EU CONCERNED ABOUT POLITICAL SITUATION IN BOSNIA

BRUSSELS, Belgium (November 24,2008) - The North Atlantic Council (NAC) and the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the European Union met on 24 November 2008 to discuss the spouyheastern Europe, in particular the political situation in Bosnia.

“We are concerned about the situation in Bosnia, and about the rhetoric,” EU foreign policy Chief Javier Solana said after the meeting.

NATO leaders have called on Bosnia’s three most influential political parties, which signed an agreement over some of the most hotly contested issues in the country, to put the deal into practice.

“It is important that there is agreement and that the agreement is implemented,” NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.

“We have the text now and implementation is important,” he added.

Leaders of the three most influential political parties in Bosnia agreed at the beginning of November, on the basic principles of how to resolve some of the key issues, including those required for the transition of the Office of the International Community's High Representative in Bosnia (OHR) into the Office of the EU Special Representative (EUSR), and to push ahead with the country’s European Union accession.

President of the the largest Bosnian political party "SDA" Sulejman Tihic,President of the largest political party of the Croatians living in Bosnia "HDZ" Dragan Covic and President of the largest political party of the Serbians living in Bosnia "SNSD" and leader of the genocidal Serbian fascist creature in Bosnia "RS" Milorad Dodik met on November 8 near the northern Bosnian town of Bosanski Samac with the aim of reaching an agreement over the several highly disputed issues.

In only two hours, they reached a general agreement on a process of future constitutional changes, questions that would be covered in 2011 census, as well as regulation of the status of the Brcko District and state property.

But much of the debate following the agreement has been almost as heated as the debate preceding it. The agreement was made possible because two parties from the ruling coalition – the SBIH Party, and the HDZ1990 Party – were not invited to the meeting. Both parties are junior partners in the ruling coalition at the state level.

HDZ1990 President Bozo Ljubic said the agreement on the process of future constitutional changes is “unacceptable”. He accused the three parties of trying to establish “a monopoly” in representing the three main ethnic groups in Bosnia, as well as full control over the most lucrative public companies.

a member of the Bosnian State Presidency Haris Silajdzic from the SBIH Party went further and accused Tihic and SDA of betraying Bosnian national interests and yielding before Serbian fascists. Silajdzic stressed that only the agreement on the legalisation of the status of the Brcko District is acceptable, and rejected all other agreed items.
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