Ms Mary Ann Hennessey:

My two colleagues will have much more to say. Bosnia-Herzegovina is not like any other state, certainly not like any state in the region. It is living with a constitution that was imposed from the outside. It is living with external institutions such as the High Representative that have inordinate power that calls into question the legal sovereignty of the state. For me, the risk of a failed state is real and that raises the stakes. The approach that works in other countries, which is rather superficial, is that one deals with elected representatives, parliamentarians, governments and tells them what clause they have to adopt and what institutions to set up. They do that and then one can wait for the time it takes for this to filter down into the whole society. In Bosnia that does not work and it will not work because the system does not foster it. What I have been trying to say is that for Bosnia-Herzegovnia there is a need for a much deeper approach. The six leaders at the top are not far enough below the surface to make something really change. The constitution needs to change but there is also a need to deal with the institutions. The six leaders are not the parliament or the government, they are party leaders. They do not represent any kind of institution but they are the people making the decisions. This is what I wanted to get across. I want to deal with institutions and standards and with citizens. The conditionality should address that type of deep change. The risk of destabilisation by that approach is less than the risk of a failed state because of the system in place.