Solana bemoans return of Bosnia nationalism

(SARAJEVO) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana warned Tuesday of a return to nationalism which fomented Bosnia's 1992-95 war during a visit to the Balkan state coinciding with that of US Vice President Joe Biden.

"I get very sad sometimes when I see some of the nationalist rhetoric coming back," Solana told journalists in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo.

The "future of your country is in the European family of nations. People and the leaders together have to work in order to arrive there, the sooner the better.

"That is the message we want to bring today," he said.

Solana is accompanying Biden on the Bosnian leg of the US vice president's three-day tour of the Balkan region, which will also take in Serbia and Kosovo.

The peace deal which ended Bosnia's war split the country into two semi-autonomous entities -- the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation -- yet left them united by weak central institutions.

The former Yugoslav republic has remained under international tutelage -- the Office of the High Representative -- due to political instability and the failure of local politicians to pass reforms.

Bosnia's EU-backed reform process has been stalled for a year due to political tensions which escalated recently with Serbs threatening secession and some Muslim leaders calling for the abolition of Republika Srpska.

"Changes of the constitution would be necessary for you being fully committed to the European Union," Solana said.

Last June, Bosnia signed a Stabilization and Association Agreement -- essentially a trade and aid pact with Brussels seen as the first step towards joining the 27-nation bloc.