BOSNIA: European Union and US officials condemned the Bosnian parliament's rejection of a constitutional reform package yesterday, saying the move would hinder the country's efforts to join the EU and Nato.
"I'm deeply disappointed by the outcome," said Christian Schwarz-Schilling, the top international envoy in Bosnia, which is still recovering from a ferocious 1992-95 war that left it divided into a Serb-run republic and a Muslim-Croat federation. "This sends a negative signal to Europe, the United States and the international community in general. But most of all, this is a loss for Bosnia-Herzegovina," he said.
The proposed amendments aimed to strengthen a central government that was left weak by the Dayton peace accords that ended the war in 1995, and also to break down ethnic barriers that still riddle Bosnia and burden it with an expensive and unwieldy bureaucracy.
The plan was launched with much fanfare last November in the US, but lingering rancour between Bosnian Serb, Croat and Muslim leaders and pre-election posturing scuppered the deal.
Its main opponents were a splinter group of Croat deputies who said that the amendments would enable the majority Muslims to outvote them in parliament, and also Muslim deputies who said the reforms did not do enough to tackle ethnic divisions.
"On behalf of the US government I would like to express my profound disappointment for the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight," said US ambassador Douglas McElhaney after the vote late on Wednesday.
After arduous negotiations, Bosnia's Republika Srpska and Muslim-Croat Federation agreed to unify their police and armed forces and taxation systems, but the constitutional changes were seen as vital to its bid to eventually join the EU.
"Yesterday was a sad day for Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was a missed opportunity," said British ambassador Matthew Rycroft. "Those who voted against this change have delayed the journey to Europe and normality.
"It was not a perfect package, but it was much better than the status quo," he added.
