EU/BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA : COALITION DEAL BRINGS BIH ONE STEP CLOSER TO EU CANDIDACY.

The six leading parliamentary parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) reached a political agreement, on 28 December 2011, allowing the formation of a new coalition government, breaking an almost 15-month institutional impasse. In both the BiH and the EU, political leaders have welcomed the move, arguing that it will enable Sarajevo to step closer to EU candidate status.

In a joint statement, on 28 December, EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule said they were "encouraged by this development and look forward to further concrete steps to put Bosnia and Herzegovina firmly back on track towards the EU". In the deal, the six parties agreed to set up a budget plan for the next two years, with Dragan Covic, a Bosnian Croat, as chairman of the Council of Ministers, a national diplomat told Europolitics.

The EU has been applying pressure upon the country since the October 2010 elections, during which the political parties had failed to share out...