The Council warmly welcomed the decision by the Steering Board to prolong for another year the mandate of High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch. The Council reiterated its full support for his untiring efforts to ensure the implementation of the Dayton/Paris agreements.

The Council regretted that an Election Law has not yet been adopted in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Council recalled that the adoption of such a law is one of the essential requirements for closer integration into European structures.

The Council continued to condemn all forms of extremism in the region, and remained committed to preventing such actions from undermining the democratic processes. The Council is presently considering restrictive measures, including a visa ban against extremists.

The Council looked forward to the third meeting of the Regional Table of the Stability Pact in Brussels on 28 June, as an important step in the preparation of the second Regional Conference scheduled for October, on the basis of recently agreed EU priorities for the Stability Pact and the strategies to be written on them.

For complete document, see:

http://www.seerecon.org/Calendar/2001/Events/0625ga2362.htm