Negotiations on amendments to the Election Law continued in Neum. Director of the European External Action Service Angelina Eichhorst and the United States (U.S.) State Department official Matthew Palmer told the media that the talks were ongoing and that progress was noticeable, but that the changes required much more work.
Eichhorst has stated that all political representatives in the Neum talks “showed exceptional constructiveness”.
“I am sorry that I cannot give you more information today, but we want to take more time and opportunities for political entities to discuss these issues with each other and then they would address afterward,” she mentioned yesterday.
She added that they remain moderate optimists and that they believe that they will continue to work towards finding a solution.
Palmer mentioned that certain changes in the Constitution are necessary in order to respect the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
Commenting on the course of negotiations on changes to the election legislation, Palmer said that there is a discussion on the election model, as well as the functionality of institutions at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), which, he stated, requires hard and thorough work.
“In order to resolve these issues successfully, the U.S. and the European Union (EU) remain committed partners to domestic officials. The talks are being held in an open and honest spirit, but the issues are difficult and will take more time, ” he stated.
He did not want to talk about the timeframes and deadlines for reaching an agreement. He said that they are moving forward, step by step and that the negotiators were focused only on the day ahead of them.