Bosnian Serb leader announces reforms before EU bid

(SARAJEVO) - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Tuesday announced a fresh bid to implement reforms necessary for Bosnia's integration into the European Union.

"I am convinced that we will succeed in overcoming the impasse in two days" during a meeting between Bosnia's political parties, Bosnian national radio quoted Dodik as saying after he met with the special EU envoy to Bosnia, Peter Sorensen.

The meeting between Bosnia's key political parties -- which have failed to agree on a central government since October 2010 general elections due to inter-ethnic disputes -- will be held in Sarajevo on Thursday.

The failure to agree on key political posts has plunged Bosnia into its most serious political crisis since the end of the 1992-1995 war.

Since the end of the war, Bosnia consists of two entities -- the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serb-run Republika Srpska. They are linked by weak central institutions while each has its own government.

The loose central government is supposed to carry out the reforms required by Brussels for the country's further European integration.

Dodik said he expected progress to be made in talks over adopting a census law and a system of state assistance to the private sector.

He also said "a credible process" had started to amend Bosnia's Constitution which the European Court of Human Rights has said discriminates against the Jewish and Roma minority.

"We will bring a new dynamic" to the process of adhesion to the EU, Dodik said.

Bosnia should make progress notably in these three fields to apply officially for a EU candidate status which Sarajevo hopes to achieve by the end of the year.

The country has signed a stabilisation and association agreement with the EU.