Bosnian Parliament Breaks 14-Month Impasse, OKs Government

Lawmakers in Bosnia-Herzegovina have approved a new government, breaking a 14-month stalemate since inconclusive general elections and disagreements over possible NATO membership left the ethnically divided Balkan state without a Council of Ministers.

Twenty-nine deputies voted in favor of the new Council of Ministers, with eight others opposed and one abstaining in the 42-seat parliament.

The breakthrough follows a compromise among the Serbian, Croatian, and Bosniak sides that cleared the way for approval of a new prime minister, Bosnian Serb economist Zoran Tegeltija, earlier this month.

Tegeltija, ministers, and deputy ministers were all sworn in after the December 23 vote.

One of the main issues confronting Bosnia’s three-member, ethnically based presidency was opposition to eventual NATO membership by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his SNDS party, to which Tegeltija also belongs.

As part of a compromise in November, the Bosnian presidency agreed to send a reform program to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

It is still unclear how the bridging of differences to form a government will affect reform efforts toward possible EU membership and cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

Bosniak Bisera Turkovic will serve as foreign minister in the new government.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Balkan Service and Reuters