The European Union on Tuesday called on Bosnia and Herzegovina's authorities to amend the election legislation and the Constitution, "if necessary," so as to eliminate "all forms of inequality and discrimination," Croatia's state agency Hina reported.

The fourth meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Council with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was held in Brussels in Tuesday, “took stock of the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and discussed the way forward on reforms, for governance to become more effective, the rule of law to be enhanced and the economic potential of the country finally unlocked, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy,” Josep Borrell, was quoted as saying.

“We have reviewed progress on the 14 key priorities, including the sensitive, but necessary constitutional and electoral reforms,” Borrell said.

“There has also been some momentum and steps taken since last year. In particular, the holding of the elections in Mostar, which proved that Bosnia and Herzegovina can advance on difficult reforms when there is the political will,” he added.

“However, most substantial issues remain pending and the progress in reforms has been limited… Today, we encouraged the political leadership to step up the necessary efforts during the remaining months of this non-election year, he was quoted as saying,” he said.

The joint position of the EU issued in a document before this meeting said that “considering the institutional mechanisms set up by the Dayton Peace Accords,” Bosnia and Herzegovina should take further constitutional and election reforms to ensure equality and non-discrimination of citizens, particularly through the settlement of the Sejdic-Finci case.

This refers to a 2009 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights which ordered Bosnian authorities to change the country’s election laws which were set in the 1995 Dayton Agreement which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian War but did so by introducing a power-sharing political structure with reserved seats for ethnic Bosniaks, Croats, and Muslims, excluding members of all other ethnicities. The case was brought to the court by two Bosnian nationals – Jakob Finci, a Jew, and Dervo Sejdic, a Roma.

In spite of the ruling and pleas by the international community, the law has not been changed as of 2021.

“The SA Council welcomed the holding of local elections in Mostar in December 2020, for the first time since 2008, and called for an inclusive process of electoral reform that would eliminate all forms of inequality and discrimination, including at constitutional level where necessary,” the Stabilisation and Association (SA) Council said.

“To this aim, the SA Council welcomed the establishment of an inter-agency working group and underscored the need for continued engagement of all leaders across the political spectrum and civil society, as well as relevant agencies,” they added in a statement.