High Representative in BiH Miroslav Lajcak said in an interview on Thursday (July 26th) that the signing of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU is his main short-term priority. He said police reform is crucial for this task to be achieved and he is optimistic that the issue will be resolved by the end of September.”I have accepted my mandate in a whole and I have no right to reject a part of my mandate, particularly such an important part,” he said, when asked if he would use the Bonn Powers to enact the reform if negotiations among local political leaders fail. “I will not hide the fact that I desire success. For me, the measure of that success is BiH inside the Stabilization and Association process, a BiH which is making real progress.”
In other news, the head of the OHR office in Banja Luka, Clarisse Pasztory, has resigned. Pasztory, who has led the office since November 2006, said she stepped down for personal reasons.