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© www.worldbulletin.netWill Bosnia become the next EU member?
Bosnia has fulfilled the preconditions for joining the European Union and is ready to submit its request for membership in the bloc, says the country's prime minister. Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic said the Bosnian government is now ready to move forward with its aspirations to join the 28-nation bloc and will submit its request to Brussels on Monday, February 15. Zvizdic expressed optimism that the EU will grant Bosnia candidate status in 2017.

Hours after Zvizdic's announcement, the government of the Bosnian Serb region complained it had not been consulted about the decision. Bosnia has been divided in two semi-autonomous regions since the 1992-95 war, one for the Serbs and the other shared by Bosniaks and Croats.

The two regions are linked by a joint government, parliament and presidency. For years, the two regions have adopted opposite visions for the future of the country. The Serbs are pushing for greater autonomy or even secession, while the other two ethic groups want a united Bosnia and EU membership.

Tensions are still running from the brutal Balkan wars in the 1990s, in which Croats, Muslims and other non-Serbs were subjected to many atrocities. On Wednesday, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) accused Serbia of failing to cooperate with the UN tribunal.

ICTY judges urged Belgrade to arrest three suspects over alleged witness-tampering in the case of indicted war criminal Vojislav Seselj. Seselj is accused of leading Serb volunteers to conduct ethnic cleansing of large parts of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia's northern Vojvodina region during the conflict that claimed over 130,000 lives and left millions of others homeless.