Reuters AlertNet Lite - Bosnian Serb PM vows no compromise on autonomy

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Bosnian Serb PM vows no compromise on autonomy

05 Nov 2007 12:03:02 GMT
Source: Reuters

BELGRADE, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serbs rejected reform proposals by the country's peace envoy because they had already made enough concessions, the Prime Minister of Bosnia's Serb Republic was quoted on Monday as saying.

Milorad Dodik said Bosnia's ethnic Serbs felt last month's change to the voting rules in Bosnia's central government and parliament threatened their autonomy.

Bosnia's international peace envoy Miroslav Lajcak imposed the measure with the aim of ending frequent deadlocks between parties from the country's two autonomous halves, the Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat federation.

He said reform was the only way to streamline government and push the country towards the EU, which wants proof that the three ethnic groups -- Croats, Muslims and Serbs -- are getting over the legacy of the 1992-95 war.

"We have already given too much to the BIH (Bosnia and Herzegovina) institutions ... we are not ready to compromise," Dodik said in an interview with Serb daily Vecernje Novosti.

Dodik said that unless the controversial measures were repealed, his party would pull out of the ruling coalition.

Prime Minister Nikola Spriric, an ethnic Serb from Dodik's party, resigned last week in protest at the measures. Unless he reconsiders, the country could be forced to hold new elections and miss out on signing a Stabilization and Association Agreement, the first step to EU membership.

Dodik said the international powers that have been supervising Bosnia's post-war recovery needed to be clear about the views of the Bosnian Serbs, who put autonomy above all.

"We accepted Bosnia as a project," Dodik said, "but they can't make us love it."

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Last updated:Mon Nov 5 12:04:17 2007