Background documents

The High Representative today welcomed the decision by the European Commission to recommend that EU Member Sates open negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with BiH. He said that today's decision will put BiH firmly to the path that leads towards Europe, and marks the most decisive shift yet away from the country's post war real [...]

“Today delegates at the BiH House of Peoples voted in favour of the EC approved agreement on Police Reform, and by doing so opened to door to Europe,'' the High Representative said today. "Aside from the passage of the Public Broadcasting reform, this was the last major roadblock preventing BiH from starting Stabilisation and Association talks.'' [...]

- I am convinced that we will implement police reform in accordance with the EU requirements and with determination that police regions should cross the inter-Entity border line in those areas where this is necessary. It is of great importance that the EU and the U.S. are involved in monitoring this process, with a mandate and instruments to ensure [...]

Police reform in BiH could be accelerated if the financial structure of the state allows for that possibility. In an interview for «Dnevni avaz», the High Representative Paddy Ashdown explains that the deadline for the implementation of police reform has not been accidentally specified as a five-year period.

The vote in the RSNA this evening is good news. There must be no confusion about what this means. The words speak for themselves. Within five years BiH will have a single integrated police service at the state level, and local police areas which will cross the IEBL in the limited areas where it is technically necessary

The High Representative today welcomed the results of yesterday's sessions of the RSNA and the BiH House of Peoples.