Andy McGuffie, EUD/EUSR spokesperson, said:

The EUs well known position is that Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a matter of priority, must align its Constitution with the European Convention on Human Rights. This is a legal obligation of BiH under its contract with the EU, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and is one of the pre-conditions for an application for EU membership to be taken into consideration.

Therefore we regret that the Interim Parliamentary Committee of both Houses for the Implementation of the ECHR Judgement in the case of Sejdić and Finci was not able to reach an agreement and propose to the Assembly draft amendments for the implementation of the Sejdić and Finci ruling.

The decision of the BiH House of Representatives of 22 December to continue the efforts towards implementation of the above judgment by extending the mandate of the Interim Committee is encouraging. However, more substantial efforts and political will are needed to reach a solution on this crucial matter.

We also urge the BiH Parliamentary Assembly to adopt without further delay EU-acquis compatible laws on State Aid and on holding a population census as required for further progress on the EU agenda.

End