New High Representative To Bosnia Officially Steps Into Office

[Ace Rimmer]

NEW HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO BOSNIA OFFICIALLY STEPS INTO OFFICE

SARAJEVO, Jan 31 (Hina) - The newly-appointed High Representative of the international community to Bosnia-Herzegovina, German Christian Schwartz-Schilling, officially stepped into office at a ceremony held in Sarajevo on Tuesday.

During the ceremony, Schwartz-Schilling's predecessor, Briton Paddy Ashdown, said that he "cannot think of anyone better to take on this job".

Schwartz-Schilling, an official of the German Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) who used to be a minister in the government led by Helmut Kohl, was appointed by the Peace Implementation Council in Paris last December.

After the 1994 Washington agreement was signed, laying foundations for the establishment of a Croat-Muslim federation in Bosnia, the German politician was an international mediator in that entity and later for the entire Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Schwartz-Schilling announced at today's ceremony that he would continue with the reforms which Ashdown launched with the aim of integrating Bosnia with Europe.

Schwartz-Schilling is the fifth High Representative. The three High Representatives before Ashdown were Wolfgang Petritsch of Austria, Carlos Westendorph of Spain and Carl Bildt of Sweden.

(Hina) (http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=hot&NID=ehot/politika/H1313848.4yc)

[Bartholomew Roberts]

How will this guy act towards croatians in bosnia? If he is to follow in the footsteps of the muslim lover Ashdowne then we might as well walk.

[Ace Rimmer]

NEW HIGH REPRESENTATIVE TO BOSNIA AND CROATIAN PM HOLD TALKS

MOSTAR, Feb 12 (Hina) - Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and the international community's High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Christian Schwartz Schilling, met in the Bosnian city of Mostar on Saturday afternoon to discuss a recent proposal by the European Commission on the establishment of a western Balkan free trade zone and Sanader's suggestion that Central European Free Trade Association should change membership criteria so as to include five south-eastern European countries.

"I suggested to Schwartz Schilling that CEFTA include Bosnia, Serbia-Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Moldova, and he has supported this idea," the Croatian premier told reporters after his meeting with the High Representative.

Sanader went on to say that CEFTA "is an excellent organisation for preparing new countries to qualify for the European Union", referring to Slovenia and Hungary.

The German diplomat said that he fully supported Sanader's proposal, adding that he would meet the European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn next week in Brussels to discuss Sanader's proposal.

Schwartz Schilling said that he had congratulated Sanader for Croatia's candidate status for EU membership which the country got while he was its Prime Minister.

The German described it as a great success for the entire region.

Bosnia-Herzegovina should be a partner in the relations with Croatia, Schwartz Schilling said adding that in his capacity as the High Representative he would help promote partnership between the two neighbours.

Sanader and Schwartz Schilling discussed Bosnia's constitutional changes.

"Schilling has agreed with me that the constitutional changes should preserve the equality of all the thee peoples and ensure the functioning of Bosnia institutions," the Croatian premier said. He added that there could be no changes which would strip the Croats of their rights to be a sovereign, constituent and equal people.

The other two constituent peoples are Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Serbs.

Asked by reporters about the escape of Bosnian Croat indictees from Bosnia, including politician Ante Jelavic, whom a trial court in Sarajevo found guilty of white collar crime, Sanader said that Croatia would act in compliance with the rule of law in such cases.

Sanader reiterated that his country and Bosnia had the longest inter-state border in Europe and that Croatia would continue pursuing the policy of good neighbourly relations with Sarajevo.

The Croatian Prime Minister is the first foreign state official to have held official talks with Christian Schwartz Schilling since the latter recently stepped into office of the High Representative.

(Hina) (http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=hot&NID=ehot/politika/H2126951.4yc)

[Ace Rimmer]

VAN DER LINDEN URGES BOSNIA TO PURSUE CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES

SARAJEVO, July 7 (Hina) - The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rene van der Linden, on Friday tried to persuade deputies in the parliament of Bosnia-Herzegovina that the country must make thorough and comprehensive changes of the current political structure based on the 1995 Dayton peace agreement if it would like to join the European Union.

The position of this Dutch politician, however, met with strong opposition from representatives of the Bosnian Serb parties.

Van der Linden, currently on a three-day official visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina, on Friday addressed both chambers of the state parliament to explain to MPs the content and meaning of a Bosnia resolution which the Parliamentary Assembly adopted last month, suggesting, among other things, that Bosnia should change the political and administrative structure based on two entities.

You simply cannot afford that 60 percent of Gross Domestic Product goes for the spending of the state apparatus, the PACE President said adding that this was why it was necessary for Bosnia to move on from the entities structure.

He said that Bosnia cannot efficiently negotiate with the European Union on its membership bid as long as the country has three presidents of state, two entity presidents, 13 premiers, over 180 ministers and 76 parliamentary deputies at various levels in the country.

He added that a good way of changing the situation was an attempt to amend the country's constitution earlier this year but everything came to a halt when the national parliament failed to adopt the amendments.

He expressed hope that more courage would be mustered to continue with the changes after the general elections, set for October 1.

According to the resolution which the PACE adopted on 29 June, "as a first step the Assembly expects people and politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina to again discuss constitutional reform immediately after the October general elections."

The PACE document also reads that "although it would probably not be realistic to expect that Bosnia and Herzegovina move quickly from a system based on ethnic representation to a system based on representation of citizens, drafting a completely new Constitution would certainly in the long run be preferable to trying to improve the Dayton one."

During a debate which ensued in the Bosnian Parliament after Van der Linden's speech today, deputies from the Bosnian Muslim parties welcomed the commitment of the Council of Europe to radical changes in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

However, Serb MPs fiercely reacted accusing the oldest European institution of having attempted to destabilise Bosnia with the June resolution. They said they believed that the key to the survival of Bosnia was to preserve the entity-based system.

Responding to the accusations, Van der Linden said that he did not believe at all that one resolution could destabilise Bosnia.

If you would like to become a full member of the European family, you must do much more than before and you must know that the Dayton agreement is not good enough for that, the Dutchman said.

(Hina) (http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=hot&NID=ehot/politika/H7072943.4yc)