CAFÉ EUROPE - A unifying goal for Bosnia L

He grew up in Travnik, a town in the mountains of central Bosnia, which was once the seat of the viziers of the Ottoman Empire. [...] The post of governor rotated between a Bosniak and a Croat, and the principle of equal representation of Bosniaks and Croats in the cantonal administration was meticulously observed. [...] It took a bit of time for the OHR [Office of the High Representative, overseeing the implementation of the 1995 peace agreement] and other international institutions to accept this, because the elections had been won by the so-called national parties and expectations were that Bosnia would become a black hole, that we would ruin Bosnia … I was trying to find a goal that no nation in Bosnia would h. [...] Of course, I met with [Romano] Prodi, at the time the Commission President, and asked for the questionnaire.” The lobbying was successful: Terzic received the questionnaire in March 2003. [...] “I assembled all the responsible ministers and the head of the Directorate of European Integration, and we went to Neum [at the Adriatic coast] and sat down for three days, taking a close look at what we had and unifying the answers.