For the attention of Mr Miro Lazovic

President of the Parliament of Bosnia Hercegovina

For the attention of the Members of Parliament

Brussels, 9 August 1995

Dear President,

Dear deputies and colleagues,

it was with great concern that we learnt from the press of the approval, during the last session of your Parliament in Zenica, of a constitutional emendment which bars non-Moslems from occupying the highest office of the Bosnian state.

After three years of shameful, cowardly conduct on the part of the international community, culminating in the withdrawal from the so-called "protected" zones of Srebenica and Zepa and the consequent massacre of over 5,000 people, in the face of the desperation of hundreds of thousands of people who, as well as losing relatives, friends and property, have also lived for three years in conditions of terrible deprivation and suffering, we can understand the frustration and the grief that can lead to the temptation - and the reasons - to abandon the path pursued up to now towards a single, sovereign, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Bosnia Hercegovina.

And we understand all the more, in the last few days, the new worries about the very security of the territories now under the control of the legitimate government of Bosnia Hercegovina. While the restoration of Croatian authority over Kraina has had the incontestible merit of reinforcing the security of the Bihac region, partly thanks to the contribution of the Fifth Bosnian Corps, it is also true that a new, serious risk has been created by the transfer of over 50,000 soldiers from the so-called Serbian Republic of Kraina to Eastern Bosnia.

Despite this serious situation, in which the governments of Europe have once again been absent, or slow to react, or hypocritical during the fall of Srebenica and Zepa and the military intervention of the Zagreb authorities, we believe that it is our duty to invite you, with the utmost conviction and the utmost faith, not to abandon Europe by abandoning the project and the ideal of a multi-ethnic Bosnia Hercegovina.

We ask you, therefore, to take strength from your exemplary resistance and to continue to work for the ideal and the project for a democratic, tolerant Bosnia Hercegovina, to ensure that this project is strengthened rather than abandoned. On our part, we will continue to work, with even greater determination, to ensure that the application for Bosnian membership of the European Union, once it is approved by your parliament and presented by your government, is accepted with the utmost urgency and commitment.

Thank you for your attention.

Best wishes,

(signatures of the deputies)