BH OPPOSITION PARTIES HAVE NOT REACHED AGREEMENT, BUT AGREEMENT IS PROBABLY IN OFFING

SARAJEVO, Dec 1 (Hina) - Representatives of the leading parties participating in talks on the establishment of new bodies of authority in Bosnia-Herzegovina, without the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), have dismissed media claims that they have reached an agreement on "an alliance for changes", as advocated originally by the Social Democratic Party (SDP). "Somebody obviously did not lose time to place such a piece of information with the intention of provoking denials and nipping a good idea in the bud," SDP president Zlatko Lagumdzija told Friday's issue of the Sarajevo daily 'Dnevni avaz.' The leader of the Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina (SBiH), Haris Silajdzic, said claims about the agreement between the former opposition parties were "pure speculations." Silajdzic said his party would not agree to anything until the international community gave strong guarantees that changes would be made which would strengthen the state, speed up the return of refugees and enable general political and economic reforms. The president of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), Ilija Simic, told Hina nothing had been resolved after the initial talks but he expressed hope an agreement would be reached. He confirmed that the main goal of this diverse post-election alliance was to squeeze SDA, HDZ, SDS and their "satellites and other extremist parties" out of power. "The alliance for changes" can succeed at the state level only if along with the SDP, SBiH and the New Croat Initiative (NHI), it also includes the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), Democratic People's Union (DNZ), Bosnia-Herzegovina Patriotic Party (BPS), Pensioners' Party, the Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNDS) and, probably, the Serb People's Alliance (SNS). In case that happens, seven political parties with one or two mandates each in the country's House of Representatives will determine the future parliamentary majority. The SDA and the HDZ have little chance of establishing the new government because nobody has expressed a wish to enter a coalition with the two parties. Most of the parties, which the 'alliance' would gather, would have to be supported by as many as 13 out of 15 parties. The possibility of establishing a government which would not include the SDS still exists in the Bosnian Serb entity but everything depends on PDP's leader Mladen Ivanic, who has not ruled out any option. Ivanic has indeed been saying that it would be difficult to establish a stable government without the SDS but his frequent meetings with SDP's leader Lagumdzija have not passed unnoticed. The PDP leader has also met the US and British ambassadors in Sarajevo. Ivanic made a small step toward a possible alliance with moderate parties on Thursday when he told the Open Broadcast Network that "any government" which would be backed by a parliamentary majority was acceptable for him. This cautious formulation is the first sign that the probable future premier of Republika Srpska has not made a definite pact with the SDS. HSS's Simic warns that the alliance of opposition parties would probably be functioning with numerous difficulties and only with a lot of good will on all levels. However, since any other possibility would be worse than this one, Simic believes the 'alliance' would manage to function but it would not be efficient without a more open engagement of the Office of the High Representative (OHR). "The protectorate, which exists in Bosnia-Herzegovina and which has never been declared, would have to be even stronger," Simic said. (hina) rml