BOSNIA: The EU set to put Bosnia on the road to membership after the country's rival ethnic leaders agreed on a set of long-delayed reforms

Record ID: 788917

  • Title: BOSNIA: The EU set to put Bosnia on the road to membership after the country's rival ethnic leaders agreed on a set of long-delayed reforms
  • Date: 4th December 2007
  • Summary: INT. EUROPEAN UNION COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT OLLI REHN STARTS PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT, OLLI REHN, SAYING: "I am very glad that I did not come in vain since the leaders of the country have convinced me of their commitment to finish the job concerning the police reform, along the lines agreed at Mostar and Sarajevo meetings recently." REHN AND INTERPRETER (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT, OLLI REHN, SAYING: "In line with the mandate I discussed yesterday with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, I have decided to initial the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow." OLLIE REHN TALKING TO REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN UNION COMMISSIONER FOR ENLARGEMENT, OLLI REHN , SAYING: "All those who have speculated on the troubled future of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been proven wrong and will be proven wrong. The country has a bright future on its road towards European Union which is supporting such democratic and economic reforms that the citizens of this country deserve and therefore I want to warm-heartedly congratulate the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina for this important step to future." OLLI REHN IN FRONT OF CAMERAS
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA5LIXH8H4FZSZHLZ4VKQKSIDVV
  • Story Text: Following the series of meetings with Bosnia's political leaders, European Union Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn announced Monday (December 3) that he would initial the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina the following day.
    "I am very glad that I did not come in vain since the leaders of the country have convinced me of their commitment to finish the job concerning the police reform, along the lines agreed at Mostar and Sarajevo meetings recently," said Rehn. "In line with the mandate I discussed yesterday with Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, I have decided to initial the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina tomorrow," he said.
    Bosnia was the only country in the Balkans without any formal links to the bloc. Rehn's decision rewards a last-minute agreement to reform, and eventually unify, the country's ethnically divided police force.
    The initialling of the SAA comes after a month of tension and increasingly inflammatory rhetoric.
    "All those who have speculated on the troubled future of Bosnia and Herzegovina have been proven wrong and will be proven wrong. The country has a bright future on it's road towards European Union which is supporting such democratic and economic reforms that the citizens of this country deserve and therefore I want to warm-heartedly congratulate the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina for this important step to future," Rehn said.
    Police reform has caused friction for years between Bosnia's two autonomous ethnic halves, the Serb Republic and Muslim-Croat federation, set up at the end of the 1992-95 war.
    Based on the preliminary political deal on police reform, Bosnia's central cabinet is now supposed to draft a plan to set up police bodies ant the state level, as Brussels wants.
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