Commissioner Carty said “the PRC report represented a real and genuine blueprint for a future policing structure” and he advised the unions that “when change is inevitable, it is best to work change to your advantage.”

Principal Deputy High Representative Donald Hays opened the meeting and said “the current fragmented policing system in BiH will not get the police the equipment they need to fight crime.”  He advised that given BiH’s fragile financial situation, the “citizens of BiH cannot be expected to pay more for policing” and therefore that the police unions need to find a way to present a common position in order to ensure the best outcome for their members.

The European Commission has made clear all legislative and budgetary competencies for policing must be vested at state level, with local policing carried out in functional police areas. In addition, improper political interference has no place in policing. The adoption of these principles is one of the recommendations in the feasibility study for the opening of Stabilisation and Association negotiations.

Today’s meeting was a step towards bringing the police unions into closer contact with the police restructuring process and all the participants believed it important to continue working in this way.

Commissioner Carty assured the police unions that EUPM will continue to work with them in the best interests of the professional policemen and women in BiH, throughout the process of police restructuring.