EU and US to present plan to break Bosnia deadlock
02 Oct 2009 18:16:42 GMT Source: Reuters
* Meeting of Bosnian leaders to convene next week * EU and U.S. officials will attend talks in Sarajevo (Adds quotes and background, previous STOCKHOLM) SARAJEVO, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States will present Bosnia's ethnically divided leaders next week with a plan to settle their differences and clear the way for the country's EU candidacy, officials said on Friday. European Union president Sweden said in Stockholm the EU and United States would convene a meeting of Bosnian leaders in Sarajevo on Oct. 9 to try to end political deadlock blocking reforms needed for Bosnia's EU admission. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg would present Bosnian leaders with a plan to overcome the stalemate, U.S. ambassador Charles English told reporters in Sarajevo. "We expect to present the package that will be sufficiently comprehensive to allow Bosnia-Herzegovina to accelerate its candidacy process both for the NATO and for the European Union," he told a joint news conference with EU officials. He declined to elaborate on the proposals. "I expect that conference will be a vigorous negotiation and I am hopeful that the results will speak for themselves," English said. Bosnia is still plagued by instability and ethnic division 14 years after the end of Europe's worst conflict since World War Two. It remains divided between two former adversaries, the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat federation and rivalry between the two regions has blocked the work of the central government and halted reforms for EU integration. The meeting will be held at the EU peacekeeping force's Camp Butmir at the outskirts of Sarajevo. Lars Wahlund of the Swedish Foreign Ministry said the joint initiative showed a strong U.S. and EU commitment to Bosnia. "We now have the situation where the whole region moves ahead towards EU and/or NATO and in this situation it's extremely dangerous to leave Bosnia behind," Wahlund said. "If we are able to reach compromises on several issues, that will open up the application for EU membership, for NATO, for visa liberalisation and other issues," he added. Bosnia submitted a request on Thursday for a NATO membership action plan but alliance officials said the country had yet to meet NATO standards in areas such as democracy and military effectiveness. The EU has said Bosnia must move beyond the stewardship of an international overseer and change its constitution before it can be considered for EU membership. [ID:nLO240950] (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo and Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
