Euractiv reports that in a letter to BiH’s three presidency members, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the implementation of “limited constitutional change that is necessary to reform the electoral system consistent with the requirements of the European Union membership and the rulings of the European Courts.”
According to N1, Bliken further wrote, “I know there are voices in Bosnia and Herzegovina calling for patience rather than urgency, including some who believe the United States and our European Partners are preparing a ‘Dayton II’ to fundamentally reshape the power-sharing arrangements in the Dayton Peace Agreement. We have seen earlier reform efforts fail in Bosnia and Herzegovina, however, by trying to do too much at once.”
Blinken stressed that the United States supports amendments to the Election Law in BiH to “address Constitutional Court decisions and implementation of election integrity measures that will make the next elections in 2022 the most free and fair in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s history.”
He called the year 2021 “a year of opportunity,” since there are no elections taking place that would “distract political leaders from the responsibility of negotiating the required changes.”
Reuters reports, “Blinken made clear that the United States would not push for radical overhaul of the peace deal it helped broker to end Bosnia’s war in the 1990s.”
