Brussels, 04/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, Javier Solana met Lord Paddy Ashdown, the UN High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina whose mandate as EU High Representative in Sarajevo has been extended till 31 August 2005 (EUROPE of 4 February, p.4). Solana and Ashdown welcomed the setting up of the ALTHEA Operation in 2 December last, an operation in which EUFOR interposition armed forces take over from the NATO-led SFOR and which, they say, is “on track”. Mr Ashdown welcomed the recent progress made in the work of the Commission for restructuring the Bosnian police and the EU Police Mission (EUPM) aimed at setting in place a single police throughout the Federal State instead of two separate police forces for the Croat-Muslim Federation and the Republika Srpska (EUROPE of 21 December, p.6). Ashdown recalled that, in order to move toward the Stabilisation and Association Agreement that it plans to conclude with the EU, it is imperative that Bosnia-Herzegovina complete reform of its police force, especially for combating organised crime. Ashdown and Solana also discussed cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, and Ashdown deplored the fact that cooperation with the Tribunal was weak (especially from Bosnian-Serbs), which, he says, is the major obstacle to rapprochement between Bosnia and the EU.