The EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has urged B&H leaders to start reforming the country’s economy and its social welfare and judicial systems as the citizens of B&H demanded during recent violent protests against unemployment and corruption.
Clashes with police left 200 injured last month, and government buildings were burned. Unemployment is now nearly 40 percent and B&H has fallen behind its neighbors in getting closer to EU membership.
Ashton said in Sarajevo that the EU wants to see B&H united, stable, prosperous and multi-ethnic. She said the country’s leaders must look beyond ethnic divisions and act on public demands.