The EU is to break off negotiations with Bosnia on eventual membership unless its feuding leaders agree to radical police reforms, the country's international governor warned on Wednesday.
Miroslav Lajcak, a Slovak diplomat who took over the running of Bosnia 10 weeks ago, said that he had given Bosnia's rival political leaders an ultimatum -- agree to the creation of a single national police structure by the end of the month or see the negotiations with Brussels frozen.
"If there is no agreement on the police, the international community will have to react," Lajcak, Bosnia's "high representative", an all-powerful post created in 1995, said. "There will be no business as usual. We won't beat around the bush. We'll name names. We have three weeks."
The country's bitterly hostile Serbian and Bosnian Muslim leaders are at odds over the sensitive police issue in a country divided along ethnic lines into a Serbian half and a Bosnian-Croat federation as a result of the 1992-1995 war.
The police structures reflect the ethnic division of the country, with each of the two "entities" empowered to run their own police forces.
The Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik, has resisted all attempts to form a national police force over the past two years and to cede authority over the police to the national government.
The Bosnian Muslim leader, Haris Silajdzic, has also rejected the police project because it does not go far enough.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled
RSS