Članci

At the elections on 1 October, the voters of this country expressed their democratic will – yet more than two months later the political parties have still not formed a state-level government. The parliament has met just once and immediately suspended its proceedings. This is neither sustainable nor responsible.

This Sunday, former police officers who were denied certification by the International Police Task Force (IPTF) before 2003 will demonstrate in Sarajevo demanding a review of their cases.

NATO’s decision, announced in Riga this week, to invite Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Alliance’s Partnership-for-Peace programme and Euro-Atlantic Cooperation Council should not be interpreted as backtracking on ICTY cooperation. Rather, it should be seen as an important step towards Euro-Atlantic integration that brings with it additional respon [...]

Judicial reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a clear purpose – to put criminals behind bars and by doing so to make life better and safer for decent, law-abiding citizens. In recent years there have been criticisms of the various programmes aimed at rooting out corruption and bias from the judiciary. Some of this criticism has been justified. Init [...]

Political problems are usually easy to understand, but sometimes politicians find it in their interest to make them appear unusually complicated. Police reform is a case in point. On 5 October 2005, Republika Srpska’s National Assembly adopted the agreement on police reform, including the provision that: “All legislative and budgetary competencies [...]

At the end of this month, on 28 and 29 November, NATO leaders meet in Riga, Latvia, to set the Alliance’s agenda for the next couple of years. The focal points of the Summit will likely be military transformation and NATO’s growing commitment to peace-building in Afghanistan. However, the former Yugoslavia will also feature in discussions and there [...]

Among the first words that foreigners learn in Bosnia and Herzegovina are veza and stela [both words for contact]. This is what people believe you need in order to get ahead in life and it is symptomatic of a society where concepts such as the rule of law are relatively new.

On Monday, the new Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina will take office. The Presidency of any country has an important representative and symbolic function both on the domestic and international stage. The tripartite Presidency here is a creative response to a complex challenge. Over the past ten years this unique institution has sometimes risen [...]

If I were a politician in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I would have one overriding objective – to put an end to poverty. Today, however, this country is clearly not enjoying the full benefit of free-market reforms. The reason is clear. Many of these reforms have been introduced half-heartedly, or incompletely. You can only promote the free market succ [...]

Today in Sarajevo, I will be chairing a meeting of the political directors of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board. These meetings, which take place on average four times a year, are an important forum for dialogue between members of the international community and the political representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina.