PETRITSCH: DAYTON AGREEMENT IS NO LONGER SUFFICIENT

SARAJEVO, Feb 9 (Hina) - The High Representative to Bosnia- Herzegovina, Wolfgang Petritsch, said on Saturday it was not longer sufficient just to implement the Dayton Agreement, assessing that the document must evolve. Speaking about the experiences of international intervention in Bosnia which was held in Sarajevo on Saturday under the organisation of the Soros Foundation's "Open Society" Fund, Petritsch said the great advantage of the Dayton Agreement was that in the past six years it could be adjusted to changed circumstances. Now that Europeisation is in the centre of attention in Bosnia, the implementation of Dayton in itself is no longer sufficient. The agreement must be expanded and it must evolve, he stressed. He pointed out that the upcoming constitutional changes in Bosnia could be the first step towards expanding Dayton. He stressed that the ongoing negotiations on changes to the Bosnian Constitution would not lead to "Dayton II". However, he stressed, they would in any case assist the evolution of the agreement which put a stop to the war in Bosnia in 1995. Petritsch called on all political leaders in the country to reach an agreement on how to adjust the constitutions of the country's two entities with the decision of the Bosnian Constitutional Court on all the three peoples in Bosnia being constitutive. The negotiations must be completed within the next several weeks as a precondition for changes which must ensue in the Permanent Electoral Law. According to existing legal provisions, the next general elections in Bosnia should be held on October 5. (hina) lml