Bosnia set to Apply for EU Membership Feb. 15 - Says Bosnia President

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Bosnia will officially apply to join the European Union on Feb. 15, the country's presidency said Tuesday, a major milestone in the former Yugoslav republic's integration with the European mainstream two decades after emerging from war.

Bosnia lags far behind its Balkan peers on the road to membership of the EU, with progress dogged by ethnic divisions after a 1992-95 war in which some 100,000 people died.

Years of tough negotiation and reform lie ahead if Bosnia is ever to join the bloc, complicated by a highly decentralized and often unwieldy system of government bestowed by a 1995 peace deal that divided up power along ethnic lines.

The country faces frequent threats of secession from ethnic Serbs, who are considering holding a referendum on the authority of Bosnia's national court over their autonomous region.