Bosnian political parties agree to form government

BELGRADE, Serbia

Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina's three major political parties signed an agreement Thursday on forming a government.

The agreement, which was signed at the state parliament building, lays out the principles of a mandate that will last until 2026.

It was signed by Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Dragan Covic, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), and Nermin Niksic, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP BiH), on behalf of the coalition of the eight.

Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity, said it took a lot of effort to reach the agreement so quickly.

''The government should be formed as soon as possible and deal with serious issues. For the first time, everyone agreed that we need to move forward. A serious effort was made to reach an efficient government formation,'' he added.

Covic said it was an important development following a decision by the European Council on granting Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status for European Union membership.

''We promised that it would be an important development when we received the status of a candidate country to the European Union. We achieved this,'' he added.

Niksic for his part said they have decided to embrace their differences and work in cooperation.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of only around 3.5 million, has the most complex political structure in the world.

The country’s tripartite presidency is a clear example of structural complexity.

Following its last elections, the government was formed 14 months later.

With this in mind, Thursday's deal is quite a move for Bosnian officials following the general election on Oct. 2.

The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are living in one of the world’s most fragile and multiethnic states, facing economic difficulties and political deadlocks due to a complex constitutional structure.

Under the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina was built as a single state but consists of two entities -- the Croat-Muslim Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Republika Srpska as well as Brcko, a neutral, self-governing canton.