Bosnia Serb PM slow on police reform

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The leader of Bosnia-Herzegovina says he does not expect police reforms in the Bosnian Serb-run state to meet EU standards.

Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told reporters in Sarajevo he won't meet a March 2 deadline to reach an agreement on reforming police forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Croatian news agency HINA reported Monday.

Dodik has said he would prefer staying outside the European Union than accept abolition of the Bosnian Serb police force.

Raffi Gregorian, deputy U.N. high representative in Bosnia, said the EU could sign a stabilization and association agreement with Bosnia, if issues including police reform were resolved, the Nezavisne Novine daily of Banja Luka reported.

In 2005, Gregorian helped to form Bosnia's single armed forces that replaced two armies of the Bosnian Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Bosnian Muslim-Croatian federation.

Under the Dayton peace accords, which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Bosnia-Herzegovina was declared a single state made up of the two entities.