Brussels, 11/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - If the leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina do not reach agreement on police reform before the end of September, “that would mean the country is not really committed to integration,” said EU Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakian Miroslav Lajcaj, on Tuesday 11 September. It would, therefore, have to expect the negative impact this would have on its process of European integration. “There will be no 'Business as usual'. The European Union will react,” he told a small group of journalists, without giving further details. On-going negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) could be suspended, as Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn suggested on 31 August. The reason for the end of September deadline is that, from the start of October, the European Commission will be putting the finishing touches to the annual progress reports on the Western Balkans countries, due to be published in late October or early November. If the police reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina fails, the Commission could recommend suspension of talks. Were this to happen, Bosnia-Herzegovina would fall behind the other countries of the region which, like Serbia and Montenegro, are about to conclude their SAAs, warned Mr Lajcak: “It would then be isolated in the region”.
The SAA is a stage that has to be passed by all the Balkan countries on their way to becoming
applicant countries for accession to the EU. Technical negotiations on this agreement have been completed, but Bosnia still has to meet a final condition before signature: police reform. Mr Lajcak presented a draft compromise to the leaders of the country's two entities, the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. On Monday, this draft compromise received the “full support” of Commissioner Olli Rehn, who held an exchange of views with Mr Lajcak in Brussels. Talks on this proposal begin in Sarajevo on Wednesday, despite its initial rejection by both sides (see EUROPE 9492 and 9495). The leaders of the Federation and the Republika Srpska are ready to talk - a small measure of success - “but I do not know how committed they are” to a solution, Mr Lajcak said. The crux of the matter is that the various protagonists want to deal with all the unresolved issues dating from the war (including those relating to responsibility for the genocide and the reform of the Constitution, which still the one from the Dayton Agreement) through the police reform. For the EU, however, police reform is a “technical issue” which has to be dealt with separately from the other very sensitive issues. Police reform is urgent and priority, because it is holding up the European integration process of the country. Thereafter the other issues can be resolved, Mr Lajcak said. His proposal would see a single police body for the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina, instead of the two currently existing. (hb)