Brussels warns of limited progress in Bosnia

(SARAJEVO) - Bosnian authorities have shown "little progress" in reforms necessary for its European integration, a European commision official said Wednesday.

"There is very little progress to be noted in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said Pierre Mirel, in charge of the European Commission for the Western Balkans.

In the commission's annual report on countries aiming to join the European Union, Bosnia was chided for a yearlong political deadlock that has prevented work on its planned reforms.

"We are far from reaching the stage of the (European) council being in a position to consider a membership application of Bosnia," Mirel told reporters here.

Sarajevo hopes to file a request for EU candidate status by the end of the year, but failure to form a central government more than a year after elections has seriously hampered Bosnia's bid.

Mirel called on the authorities to make more progress in constitutional and judiciary reforms, rule of law and the media.

"We hope that the autorities in Bosnia will consider our progress report as the agenda of the gouvernment. That should be its working programme," he said.

The latest attempt to form a central government in the ethnically divided country -- the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation -- failed last month.

Bosnia detailed findings and recommendations