A meeting between ethnic Croat and ethnic Bosniak parties on electoral reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina scheduled for Tuesday was not held and although no reasons were given, two officials suggested the possibility of another meeting under the aegis of the US and the EU.

The spokesman of the Croat HDZ BiH party, Andjelko Maslac, told the press in Mostar the meeting would not be held, but not who cancelled it or if another one would be held on Friday as speculated by the media.

Today’s meeting was announced on Saturday by HDZ BiH president Dragan Covic as a continuation of talks between Croat and Bosniak politicians who had participated in talks in Neum and Sarajevo.

The leader of the People and Justice party, Elmedin Konakovic, said today a meeting of the parties’ leaders would not be held, suggesting the parties’ expert teams might meet in an attempt to come closer in their views before engaging US and EU mediators again.

“As a serious and state-building party, we will respond to an invitation to talks because it’s the only option. Anything else leads to a status quo and further deepening of any possible conflict,” he said.

HDZ 1990 leader Ilija Cvitanovic said he was confident international representatives would not give up from helping Croats and Bosniaks reach an agreement. “I’m confident that a meeting will take place in the next seven days, moderated by international representatives.”