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The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, today called on European Union foreign ministers to continue their countries' engagement implementing the Dayton Peace Accords in Bosnia and Herzegovina. EU countries currently donate more than half of all foreign aid to BiH.
The EU foreign ministers were attending a regular meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC) in Brussels, which handles the EU's external relations and where Balkan issues today topped the agenda. The High Representative outlined progress in market economic reform, the return of refugees and displaced people to their homes and the creation of functioning institutions which work across both BiH Entities. He stressed that the positive reforms in BiH had the potential to influence other countries in southeastern Europe and that despite the tragic outbreak of fighting in Macedonia and Serbia, southeastern Europe still has a chance to pull away from the destructive nationalist conflicts of the past. The High Representative won full support for his work from EU foreign ministers and senior EU officials present. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine noted the complicated situation with some hardline members of the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) and – along with other officials present such as EU Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten and the EU’s High Representative for Security Policy, Javier Solana -- fully approved the dismissal of Mr Ante Jelavic from BiH politics. They also called on the High Representative to strengthen economic reform. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer emphasized that the Dayton Accords -- and their implementation -- must not be abandoned. The High Representative told the meeting that the dream of integration with Europe, along with trade, remained a powerful means of promoting stability and overcoming national and ethnic differences in the Balkans. He said he would be encouraging new, non-nationalist administrations in BiH to speed up the adoption of legislation on the EU's "Road Map", a set of steps BiH must fulfil to win a feasibility study for a stability and association agreement with the EU. EU countries at their summit in Zagreb last year called on BiH to fulfil the conditions on the Road Map, by the middle of this year.
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