Bosnia's foreign minister called on the European Union today to find a way to help the Balkan country advance towards membership of the 27-member union.
Sven Alkalaj said Bosnia has been unable to officially apply for membership because the two entities making up the post-war Bosnia cannot agree on the status and distribution of state property, which the European Commission requires.
Mr Alkalaj said the problem would not be solved quickly, due to differing view of the country's Muslims, Croats and Serbs, and urged the Commission to find a way around the problem.
"I think a solution should be found with the European Commission that Bosnia... applies (for EU membership) and that the process continues so that Bosnia is not left even further behind the other countries in the region," said Alkalaj during a visit to Slovenia.
Bosnia is made up of the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic.
Euro zone member Slovenia is the only of the former Yugoslav states to have joined the EU in 2004 while Croatia hopes to join in 2012. Others, apart from Bosnia, have applied but have yet to start membership talks.
Mr Alkalaj said the EU should lift visa requirements for Bosnians by the end of this year despite a blast in June that killed one person.
He told a news conference visa liberalisation will still take place "at the latest by the end of the year".
The explosion outside a police station in the central town of Bugojno was one of the most serious security incidents in Bosnia since an ethnic war ended in 1995. Last week Bosnian police arrested two men who staged the attack and three suspected helpers.
"This is one isolated incident and security officials immediately started working on it and are holding those who committed this act of terrorism so I don't think this will influence security in Bosnia," Mr Alkalaj told a news conference.
Reuters