ICG: EU should take stronger role in Bosnia

ICG: EU should take stronger role in Bosnia

Besides that, ethnic nationalism remains too strong in Bosnia- Herzegovina, slowing down the country's overall progress, the report said.

ICG said that the "looming decision on Kosovo's status" would further test the very fabric of the Bosnian state, considering some signals from Bosnian Serbs that the decision on Kosovo may trigger the issue of the Bosnian-Serbs' independence from Bosnia.

The European Union should become the central international player in Bosnia, replacing the international community's Office of the High Representative (OHR), established under the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the country's 1992-1995 war.

"It is time for the EU, always seen as the ultimate anchor for a stable Western Balkans, to become the active core of the international effort in the country," the report said.

The new stronger EU role in Bosnia should help the country to follow a more stable course towards EU integration.

"The notions that Bosnia could be treated as any other applicant and that the mere attraction of membership at a distant date would suffice to overcome its polarizing ethnic nationalism have proven mistaken.

"The EU must deploy new and different policy tools to keep peace implementation and progress toward membership on track," the report said.

Besides increasing its political involvement, the EU - and other donors - should also "more generously support economic development, job creation and infrastructure improvement in Bosnia," the report said.

The ICG's report came some two weeks before the meeting of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), which is overseeing the peace process in Bosnia-Herzegovina, expected to decide the country's way forward.