Bosnia faces vote on EU reforms or isolation

[Marcus Marulus]

Bosnia faces vote on EU reforms or isolation

Daria Sito-Sucic

Reuters North American News Service

Apr 10, 2008 04:10 EST

SARAJEVO, April 10 (Reuters) - Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and Muslims will try again on Thursday to agree on police reforms in what may be the last chance to start the process of joining the European Union.

"The European Union has no plan B for Bosnia if it fails to pass the police reform. If they do not pass it now, it means that politicians have voted for self-isolation," said Natasa Vodusek, the ambassador of Slovenia, the EU's present president.

Squabbling among Bosnia's ethnic groups has blocked adopting the reform law for more than four years while the measures have been debated, drafted and redrafted.

The EU has told Bosnia, which was expected to agree on the reforms in March, that the laws must be passed by parliament on Thursday so that it can sign the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) in May.

If parliament rejects them, the signature would be postponed indefinitely and there is a chance of a political crisis as Prime Minister Nikola Spiric has threatened to resign.

"I believe that politicians know this is the last chance to use the EU readiness to sign the SAA with Bosnia," Vodusek told the Dnevni Avaz daily.

The plan, endorsed by Bosnia's Western backers, has been watered down from the original, which had envisaged the unification of the police forces of Bosnia's two regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic.

But staunch Serb opposition to the loss of what it saw as a cornerstone of its autonomy means the proposed merger will be largely cosmetic.

It was unclear whether parliamentarians would be able to agree whether to vote on the reforms and even less clear whether the would pass.

Bosnia, along with neighbour Serbia and newly independent Kosovo, are the only Balkan states without any formal contract with the EU.

The parties of Bosnian Muslim leader Haris Silajdzic and Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik have supported the legislation in principle but have failed to find a compromise deal that would secure the vote in parliament.
The European Union has said it will accept whatever reform local politicians agree as long as it meets some broad criteria of operating in an unbiased manner. (Editing by Stephen Weeks)


Source: Reuters North American News Service

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