(SARAJEVO) - Lawmakers in Bosnia's upper house on Wednesday adopted long-disputed police reforms, removing the last hurdle for the country to sign a key pact on closer ties with the European Union.

Two police reform bills passed by 10 to four votes, ending years of dispute among Bosnia's Croat, Muslim and Serb leaders about the extent to which they should integrate the country's separate ethnic police forces.

One deputy was absent during the vote.

The lower house of the Bosnian parliament approved the reforms last Thursday.

The EU had insisted that the laws be passed before it would allow the country to sign up to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards joining the European club.

Since the 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has consisted of two autonomous entities: the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

The two are linked by weak central institutions while each has its own parliament, government and police.

Brussels had called for unification of the separate police forces, but the Bosnian Serbs insisted on retaining control of police in Republika Srpska. The Croats and Muslims wanted the forces to be unified and put under central control.

Eventually the EU and the parliament accepted reforms that will involve setting up seven new state-level police coordination bodies, without immediately affecting the autonomy of the two forces.

The reforms stipulate that the new bodies will assume authority over the separate police forces a year after constitutional reforms. No date has been set for the start of the constitutional reform process.

Bosnia initialled the SAA, essentially a trade and aid pact, in December.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said last month that Brussels expected to fully sign the deal with Sarajevo in April, pending the implementation of the police reforms.

Text and Picture Copyright 2008 AFP. All other Copyright 2008 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.