The members of the Collegiums of both Houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH met with the OSCE Secretary-General

Speaker of the House of Representatives of the parliamentary assembly of BiH (PABiH) Borjana Krišto, Spekaer of the House of Peoples of the PA BiH Ognjen Tadić and their deputies Šefik Džaferović, Safet Softić and Bariša Čolak met today with the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Thomas Greminger, who is staying in a two-day official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the meeting, which was devoted to the general political situation in our country, the state of reform and the functioning of the government institutions, it was jointly assessed that the role of the OSCE Mission to BiH is very constructive and useful. In this regard, it is underlined that the Mission of this international organization enjoys the trust of citizens and institutions with whom the OSCE has been closely cooperating for many years on realization of various projects with a view to their better functioning.

It was also warned that a few months before the general elections there is a negative political atmosphere and rhetoric that hampers the work of the institutions and does not contribute to faster implementation of reforms on the European and Euro-Atlantic path of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Various attitudes regarding the adoption of amendments to the Election Law of BiH were presented at the meeting. In this regard, Mr. Greminger emphasized that solutions must be the product of agreement and consensus of politicians in BiH, adding that representatives of the international community can assist in the negotiation process but will not impose solutions.

An expectation is that the Law on Conflict of Interest in BiH institutions will be adopted soon, which would become an important instrument in the fight against corruption.

Members of the Collegiums of both Houses of the PABiH called upon senior OSCE officials to continue their strong engagement in protecting the human rights of BiH citizens, above all on education, with a view to ensuring the use of the Constitution guaranteed right to the mother tongue. In this connection, Mr. Greminger emphasized that the issue of education will continue to be at the top of the OSCE Mission's priority and that the Mission will continue to commit itself to prevent segregation and discrimination of children in the education process.

It has been confirmed that the OSCE Mission will remain committed and willing to provide any kind of assistance with the aim of achieving constructive and pragmatic solutions that will be of use to the institutions and citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (End)