International community concerned over Bosnia

(SARAJEVO) - Representatives of the international community on Thursday said they were concerned by Bosnia's lack of progress in meeting conditions needed to bring it closer to Europe.

In a statement, the 55-nation Peace Implementation Council (PIC) voiced its "serious concern with the insufficient progress that Bosnia-Hercegovina's authorities have made in delivering ... conditions that remain necessary for the closure of the Office of the High Representative (OHR)," the powerful international envoy.

"An EU membership application by Bosnia cannot be considered as long as the OHR exists," it added.

The PIC, which includes representatives of Russia and the United States, oversees post-war Bosnia and the work of the High Representative who is entitled to impose laws and sack obstructive officials.

The PIC's Steering Board met in Sarajevo on Wednesday and Thursday.

Bosnia is divided over the fate of the OHR with ethnic Serbs, traditionally backed by Russia, insisting that it should be closed and increasingly challenging its authority.

But, Croat and Muslim leaders want the OHR to remain until a deal is reached on how to revamp the constitution to make Bosnia more functional.

Since the 1992-1995 war Bosnia consists of two halves -- the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. They are linked by weak central institutions and each has its own government.

The unclear division of authority between the two entities often leads to paralysis which usually has to be resolved by the intervention of the High Representative, currently Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko.

The post of international envoy was due to be phased out in 2007 but the mandate was extended because of political instability and the failure of local politicians to pass reforms.

The PIC's Steering Board is to meet again in Sarajevo in February.