EU Mulling Measures on Bosnia as Political Crisis Deepens

(Bloomberg) -- European Union member states may consider sanctions among a raft of measures as a way to halt the deepening political crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and bring the divided Balkan country back onto a path to join the bloc one day.

Member states have tasked the EU's foreign affairs service with setting out a list of “action-oriented options,” according to a diplomatic memo seen by Bloomberg News. EU foreign ministers will discuss the options paper at a meeting in Brussels on Feb. 21, a person familiar with the plans said.

Several countries, including Germany, have asked that sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik be part of the mix of policy options. The person said that it wasn't yet clear if sanctions would be included in the paper. The foreign affairs service declined to comment.

Sanctions would move the EU closer to the U.S., which last month imposed measures against Dodik for his threats to secede from the ethnically fragmented former Yugoslav republic.

Bosnia was at the center of a series of brutal conflicts that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s, marked by the worst atrocities on European soil since World War II. The U.S.-brokered Dayton peace accord in 1995 stopped the hostilities, but left the country with a weak centralized rule and lingering animosities. The country is divided into two entities along mainly ethnic lines, between Serbs on one side and Muslims and Croats on the other.

After years of secession threats by Dodik, who represents ethnic Serbs in the country's tripartite presidency, the Bosnian Serb parliament in December adopted a series of measures aimed at cutting judicial, security and military ties with the rest of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The vote stipulated that the acts will come into force within a six-month period, giving the authorities time to prepare.

Should the political situation deteriorate, EU foreign ministers will explore tools available to hold Bosnia's state institutions together -- with the ultimate goal of moving the nation of 3.3 million closer to to the 27-member bloc.

Sanctions may be difficult to get through the European Council. Any measures requiring unanimous support could be blocked by Hungary, whose prime minister, Viktor Orban, has said he'll oppose such measures.