Bosnia will seek EU candidacy in December

(SARAJEVO) - Bosnia will seek EU candidacy status in December despite an ongoing stalemate in forming a central government, a top official said on Wednesday.

"I think we will submit this year, namely in December, a candidacy to join the European Union," Muslim member of Bosnia's joint presidency Bakir Izetbegovic told National radio after a conference on the Balkans held in Brussels.

Izetbegovic did not say whether the candidacy bid would be submitted before the December 9 summit of EU top leaders in Brussels.

In the European Commission's annual report on countries aiming to join the EU, presented in October, Bosnia was chided for the yearlong political deadlock that has prevented work on reforms.

"We are far from reaching the stage of the (European) Council being in a position to consider a membership application of Bosnia," the European Commission's Pierre Mirel, in charge of the Western Balkans, had said at the time.

The Balkan country has been in crisis since elections in October 2010. Rival Bosnian Serb, Muslim and Croat leaders -- who were at war from 1992 to 1995 -- have been unable to form a central government.

The rivalry between the communities has harmed Bosnia's aim to join the European Union and NATO.

Since the war that left almost 100,000 people dead, Bosnia has been divided into the Bosnian Serb-controlled Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Beside the formation of a central government, Bosnia is also to amend its constitution, deemed discriminatory towards minorities, as well as adopt a law on state subsidies.

Izetbegovic told the radio he was an "optimist", estimating that outstanding issues would be resolved in "one, two or three months".