Bosnians agree to reform presidency, parliament

SARAJEVO, Mar 18 (Reuters) Bosnia's Muslim, Serb and Croat leaders agreed today on a US-backed constitutional reform that would strengthen and streamline the central government and help accession to the European Union and NATO.

The seven main parties agreed to replace the tri-presidency with a single rotating post and two vice-presidents as well as to more than double the central parliament to 87 deputies and make its functioning easier.

They had earlier agreed to expand the central cabinet to 11 from nine ministers and to introduce the post of a powerful prime minister instead of a chairman with limited powers.

''I am pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement on constitutional reform,'' the US ambassador to Bosnia, Douglas McElhaney, told reporters in front of his residence in downtown Sarajevo flanked by the seven leaders.

They said they would seek to have the package approved by the central parliament in the following weeks so that general polls in November could be organised according to the new rules.

In November, the 10th anniversary of Bosnia's U.S.-brokered Dayton peace agreement, the leaders pledged to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to undertake reforms. But their talks stalled in January.

The Dayton treaty split Bosnia into two highly-autonomous regions, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic, with their own parliaments, governments, armies and police and spanned by a weak central government.

But the political structure failed to stem ethnic bickering and became increasingly ineffective as Bosnia sought to implement reforms that would bring it closer to the EU and NATO.

Over the last year, the armies have been integrated into a singe force and the two regions have also agreed to create a single multi-ethnic police force.

Other central bodies and institutions, such as the intelligence agency and indirect taxation authority, have also been established.

Bosnia is now in the waiting room for a membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace cooperation programme and has started Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) talks with the European Union, the first ladder on the rung to EU membership.

Reuters CH BS2154