The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, today confirmed that the International Review Panel (IRP), appointed according to his decision of October 6th 2000 integrating Zepce into the legal structures of the Zenica-Doboj Canton, has reported that the requirements set under the decision have been fulfilled subject to completion of conditions specified in the International Review Panel (IRP) report.
The IRP found that nearly all of the mandatory requirements of the Decision, within the control of the municipal authorities, had been satisfied, although several measures had been implemented behind schedule and others requiring Federation government action remained unresolved. The IRP also found that in many respects the degrees of integration achieved both with the Canton and within Zepce had far exceeded the specific requirements of the Decision. The untenable situation of lawlessness and parallel structures in Zepce has been overcome and significant progress has also been made in other fields such as property return, which in the Zepce municipality stands at 88%, one of the highest in the Federation BiH.
The High Representative’sThe High Representative’s final decision imposing the new Zepce municipal borders is due on 1 September 2001, three months from the date of the IRP. This decision is dependent on further satisfactory progress in a number of fields outlined by the IRP in their report. These include; further advance in power sharing within the municipal structures, progress in creating multi-ethnic management boards in the Dom Kulture and Veterinary Service, unified Civil Protection and Fire Services, development of the ‘two schools under one roof’ program by facilitating the move of the Bosniac school from Golubinje to Zepce before the start of the 2001 school year, and completing the process of renaming of Zepce’s streets. Regarding the municipal boundaries of Zepce, the IRP recommends that the Ze-Do Canton administration clarify the correct line between Gornja and Donja Lovnica
Regarding requests for any further boundary changes the IRP recommended that no deviation from the 6 October decision should be approved, unless a consensus of support for such a change is agreed by all the communities concerned before the Decision becomes final.