Waldner: “Bosnia and Herzegovina has to resume reforms!”

State Secretary Wolfgang Waldner appeals to Bosnian politicians
to assume responsibility for the European future of their country

Sarajevo, 15 June 2011 – “Bosnia and Herzegovina has to return to its path of reform as swiftly as possible,” said State Secretary Wolfgang Waldner, appealing to those politically responsible, including Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj, during today’s visit to Sarajevo. In the course of his visit, Waldner also attended an international conference on the Western Balkans organised by the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation and the Johns Hopkins University, of which he himself is a graduate.

“We are concerned that the political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina may be focusing too much on their own interests instead of concentrating on the European future of their country and its citizens,” said the State Secretary, underlining that even eight months after the country’s elections no government has yet been formed at the federal level. It was high time that Bosnia and Herzegovina had a functioning government in order to introduce the reforms that are so important for the country’s rapprochement with the EU.

In addition to his talks with numerous political representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, State Secretary Waldner also used his visit to Sarajevo for meetings with two high-ranking Austrians holding key international positions, namely the High Representative of the International Community, Valentin Inzko, and Major General Bernhard Bair, commander of the EU’s EUFOR Althea peacekeeping troops.

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