Background documents

In response to the statement issued by the European Commission today noting the important step forward that has been made on delivering PBS legislation this week, but at the same time highlighting that police reform now must be tackled without delay if there is to be any possibility of commencing Stabilisation and Association negotiations before th [...]

The High Representative is in Brussels today where this evening he will meet with the European Unions High Representative, Javier Solana and the Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn. The High Representative will attend these meetings together with BiH Prime Minister Adnan Terzic.

I had hoped this would be an upbeat press conference but it’s a bleak one. I had hoped to be able to talk about the future. I had hoped to announce this morning that this country was, at last, joining its neighbours on the way to Europe. I had hoped to be able to announce, as a result, a series of initiatives which would have marked the beginning [...]

Member states of the European Union completed the reform of their police forces, and therefore we ask of BiH to do the same, said Wilfred Martens, PRC Chair. He added that RS authorities should not have any fears that this Entity would be abolished by police reform.

The decision by the European Commission’s Consultative Task Force not to give a green light to the launch of Stabilisation and Association negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina is a disappointing but expected result, given the failure of the multi-party talks of police restructuring early this week.

Negotiations on police reform have collapsed. Whether they will continue will be decided by the RSNA delegates, who need to give a mandate to their politicians to bring this very important process to a conclusion. In his interview for “Dnevni avaz” Paddy Ashdown expresses his hopes that this will be done. He says that Serb leaders have told him the [...]

As you know the subject of our press conference I need hardly tell you is police reform. As you know the multi-party talks on police restructuring failed last night. Before I say anything let me say that this isn't the end, necessarily. The position is serious, but recoverable. But it is the end for the moment and unless there is a change of view [...]