Statement by Olli Rehn, EC Commissioner for Enlargement, following his meeting with parliamentarians from BiH

I am pleased with the constructive meeting we had today with parliamentarian representatives fromBosnia and Herzegovina.

In a meeting at Mount Vlasic a few days ago politicians from BiH made an important step to make the restructuring of the police a reality. However the encouraging outcome of that meeting is not yet sufficient. What we need now is a solid and comprehensive Political Agreement, endorsed at Parliamentary level; on how exactly the restructuring of the police is to be implemented. It goes without saying that I expect that any agreement and action plan should be designed in compliance with the agreed, basic principles for this exercise:

• All legislative and budgetary competencies must be vested at state level;
• Competencies should be applied in functional areas, so as to achieve technically efficient policing;
• There should be no political interference in operational policing.

Time for action has now come. The support of the Parliaments is of utmost importance to ensure the smooth continuation of the police reform. We cannot afford to remain blocked by endless theoretical discussions. We need to move forward.

This spirit of constructive dialogue should also now be applied to resolving the remaining Feasibility Study issues, most importantly Public Broadcasting legislation, which is clearly outstanding. The European Commission will hold the next meeting of the Consultative Task Force in Sarajevo on 19 May. Based on the progress achieved by then, I hope to be able to prepare a recommendation for the opening of SAA negotiations. I am confident that with concentrated efforts it is possible for BiH to move forward to the next stage in the European integration process.