The European Union is carefully monitoring developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is concerned that governments at the State and BiH Federation level have not been formed five months after the elections, said Miroslav Lajčák, European External Action Service Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia,  at a press conference on Thursday in Sarajevo.

During his two-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina for the first time in his new capacity as Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia in the European External Action Service, Lajčák met with the members of the BiH Presidency in Sarajevo, and had meetings with political party leaders in Sarajevo and Banja Luka.

He told journalists that the EU will not directly intervene in the formation of governments in BiH because “it is not the European way to discuss who should and who should not be part of the government.”

Lajčák also said that the EU would not sanction local political party leaders since “they are legitimate representatives elected by citizens of this country in democratic way,” but he added that the EU expects these leaders “to fulfil the commitments that Bosnia and Herzegovina assumed in the context of the European integration process – and BiH citizens are those who may sanction them at the next elections.” 

Lajčák said that the message he conveyed to party leaders was that they are expected to soon form a government that will pursue the reform agenda, then to start as soon as possible with the ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, and to make serious efforts to implement the European Court’s ruling in the Sejdić-Finci case. 

“Without it there cannot even be talks about  progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina on its road to the EU” he warned. “The European Union is ready for Bosnia and Herzegovina and it does not want this country to lag behind, but Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to do its homework. We are ready to do our part of the job.” stressed Lajčák.

One of the goals of Lajčák’s visit was to convey message from Brussels to BiH leaders that “the EU has a clear strategy for Bosnia and Herzegovina, through use of its reinforced mandate in BiH to demonstrate its readiness to become a leading factor in BiH and main partner to BiH institutions on its road to EU”, he said.

Miroslav Lajčák, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, also served as High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2007 and 2009. He assumed the position of the Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia in the European External Action Service in January 2011.