Brussels, 22/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Enlargement Commissioner Oli Rehn declared on Monday that the Commission might be able to recommend that the Council opens negotiations with Bosnia-Herzegovina next May on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA). Addressing the press, following a meeting with the Prime Minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Adnan Terzic, Mr Rehn declared that, “Recently, Bosnia-Herzegovina has made a lot of progress and I hope to be able to recommend the launch of negotiations on an SAA next May”. Rehn also said that he was convinced that, “we have a great chance of being well into these negotiations by November this year when we commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Dayton Agreement”, the peace agreement that put an end to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina in November 1995.
Rehn explained that if this objective were to be achieved, Bosnia-Herzegovina still had to fulfil two conditions: significant progress for ensuring full cooperation with the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ITFY). The Commissioner underlined that they expected further efforts to be made by the government in this domain. The Bosnian Prime Minister provided assurances in this connection that those facing charges at the ITFY had not been in Bosnia-Herzegovina for some time. Mr Rehn stressed that police reform had to be based on the principles of police efficiency and not on political considerations.