Nine in 10 Bosnians want EU membership: poll

(SARAJEVO) - Almost nine out of 10 Bosnians want their country to become a member of the European Union and political reforms needed to reach that goal, a government poll showed Thursday.

Eighty-eight percent of Bosnians said they supported Bosnia's European ambitions, according to the poll conducted by the Bosnian agency for European integration for which 1,200 people were questioned.

The political deadlock in Bosnia which remains deeply divided along ethnic lines has delayed reforms demanded by the European Union if Sarajevo is ever to apply for membership.

The support for EU membership is strongest in Bosnia's Muslim community with 97 percent in favour, while 85 percent of Bosnian Croats supported it and 78 percent of Bosnian Serbs.

Off all people questioned from all three communities an overwhelming 93 percent said the government should speed up the reforms demanded by Brussels.

In 2008 Bosnia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, a first step towards future membership.

The EU wants to see reforms that will strenghthen Bosnia's weak central government, constitutional changes and the adoption of a law on organising a long overdue census.

Almost six months after general elections in October Bosnia, divided into the highly autonomous Muslim Croat Federation and the Serbs' Republika Srpska, still has no new central government.