The central issue facing the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina is whether the 3 October election can put an end to dysfunction and stalemate and get the country back on the road to stability, prosperity and Euro-Atlantic integration, the High Representative and EU Special Representative, Valentin Inzko, will say in a keynote address at Sarajevo University’s Economics Faculty today.

In light of dramatic unemployment rates affecting more than half a million working-age BiH citizens, the HR/EUSR will note that no one needs to invent a strategy to get the country out of the current standstill, but that the steps for doing so have been clearly laid out in the European Partnership and accepted by all of the main political parties in the framework of European Integration. However, these steps have not been taken and those who are asking citizens for another four years in office should explain what they intend to do differently if they are given another chance.

Faced with rising unemployment and declining living standards, voters should see the elections on 3 October and the months ahead as an opportunity to ask candidates to explain why they haven’t fixed the economy, why this country has not progressed faster on the European path and how they propose to perform better after 3 October.

The HR/EUSR’s will be speaking at the Economics Faculty in Sarajevo at 18.00 today. The full text of his address will be available at www.ohr.int and www.eusrbih.eu at that time.