Six months after Bosnian citizens voted in general election, leaders of three political parties which won most of the votes agreed on the distribution of ministerial posts in the state government.

In a meeting held Wednesday, Bakir Izetbegovic, Dragan Covic and Milorad Dodik concluded the talks on the formation of the state government, formally known as the Council of Ministers, where both of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous regions Republika Srpska (RS) and Federation (FBiH) are represented.

Izetbegovic’s Party of Democratic Action (SDA) will appoint ministers in the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Security Ministry and the Ministry of Defence.

“We moved our stances closer when it comes to the distribution of posts,” Izetbegovic confirmed after the meeting held at the Bosnia Presidency building.

The atmosphere preceding the talks was “bad,” according to the SDA leader, but the final meeting was better than expected.

The post-election government formation at the state level was in a deadlock for months due to deep political disagreements including that on Bosnia’s path to the NATO. While political stakeholders in the FBiH entity were widely supporting it, the RS leadership declared military neutrality and said they would follow the stance of Serbia on membership in this alliance.

After the Wednesday meeting, the problem seems to remain in place.

In line with the rotation principle, the Chairman-designate in this term should be a candidate of the SNSD, the winner party in the RS entity and the party which formally does not support the NATO membership.

“We got stuck at activation of the (NATO’s) Membership Action Plan (MAP). At sending the first Annual (National) Plan. That’s the moment when Mr Dodik ended the session. We couldn’t agree on it,” said Izetbegovic.

According to him, it is not possible to appoint the Council of Ministers Chairman-designate who would question Bosnia’s commitment regarding its NATO path.

SNSD rejects any sort of conditioning, the party leader Milorad Dodik told the reporters. “We won’t support the MAP and that’s very clear. That’s a constitutional matter, far above the matter of the Council of Ministers formation,” he said pointing out that with failure to form the Council of Ministers “we risk stopping our European road.”

Dodik’s party will, according to the Wednesday’s agreement, appoint the Foreign Trade Minister, the Minister of Transport and Communications as well as the Council of Ministers Chairman.

Post of the Ministry for Refugees and Human Rights should be assumed by a non-partisan candidate from Republika Srpska, it was agreed in the meeting.

Dragan Covic’s HDZ BiH will appoint the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Justice and the Civil Affairs Minister, which is less than the party expected.

“We got three ministers and three deputy ministers which is less than we expected,” said Covic adding that the leaders were very close to a final agreement which he hopes will be signed soon.

“I hope there will be enough of wisdom to finish this matter, even on the phone, to finalise what we discussed,” said the HDZ BiH leader.