The foreign mediators have exhausted all the possibilities to help Bosnian political leaders reach a consensus on electoral reform and this is their missed opportunity, said one of the foreign mediators, Managing Director Europe at European External Action Service Angelina Eichhorst following the end of the latest round of negotiations on Sunday, which yielded no results.

She said that the talks were intensive and included the discussion on the integrity of election process, changes to the Constitution of BiH as well as the election models for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the members that are elected in the Bosniak-Croat shared Federation entity.

According to Eichhorst, certain steps forward were made regarding the functioning of the Federation's institutions, where leaders harmonised mechanisms that would prevent the blockade of the appointment of the Federation's Government and appointment of judges in Bosnian Constitutional Court.

However, the stumbling block were the competencies in the Federation's House of Peoples, due to the disagreement between the HDZ BiH and the SDA parties.

“This is a loss, a missed opportunity for the local leaders,” she was quoted as saying, noting that an agreement would have brought Bosnia closer to the EU.

Now, Eichhorst added, with all the developments on the European soil and on the geopolitical stage, this was real opportunity to show readiness to reach a consensus.

She assessed it as a significant step forward that the parties discussed for the first time the functionality of the Federation entity's institutions.

All parliamentary parties were invited for the talks, Eichhorst noted, denying the allegations that some did not received the invitations.

Now that the options of the foreign mediation have been exhausted, she said, it is important to resume the debate on this matter within the institutions.

The latest round of talks this week was mediated by Eichhorst and US Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Michael Murphy.

The political representatives of the SDA, HDZ BiH, HDZ 1990, the People and Justice, SBB BiH and NES parties left the EU Delegation's premises where the talks were held over the past days.