Bosnia and Herzegovina from Dayton to the European Union
Bosnia and Herzegovina from Dayton to the European Union

Summary/Abstract: The present paper aims at describing the need for a reform of the Dayton Constitution, given the prospective accession of BiH to the European Union. Notwithstanding the signing in June 2008 of the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, the country is still threatened in its unity and in its political life by ethnic nationalism; moreover, its inefficient and cumbersome institutional framework requires heavy intervention from the international community in order to function, through the Office of the High Representative, thereby impeding the development of proper self-government. The only possible solution which would not endanger the unity of the state seems to consist in a federalist choice, which could go beyond the ―institutional racism enacted by the Dayton Constitution, without risking jeopardizing the considerable autonomy enjoyed by the cantons and entities. Such a solution has to be reached with the utmost urgency, because an efficient state based on European perspectives and values is not an overly ambitious goal, which could be pursued once the political situation is finally stabilized, but it rather represents one essential condition to allow Bosnian society to develop, rejecting nationalism and ethnic hatred.

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