The leaders of the six biggest Bosnian parliamentary parties failed to reach an agreement on the formation of a state government in Sarajevo on Thursday, more than a year after elections.

After three hours of talks held behind closed doors, Social Democratic Party president Zlatko Lagumdzija told a press conference that no agreement had been reached and that the parties had remained apart in their views. He did not specify what they had talked about.

The meeting also involved the presidents of the Croat parties HDZ BiH and HDZ 1990, Dragan Covic and Bozo Ljubic respectively, the president of the predominantly Bosniak SDA party, Sulejman Tihic, and the presidents of the Serb parties SNSD and SDS, Milorad Dodik and Mladen Bosic respectively.

The initial part of the meeting was attended by the European Commission's Deputy Director-General for Enlargement, Stefano Sannino, and the EU Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Peter Sorensen.

Lagumdzija said that there was no point in this kind of negotiation and that an early election should be called if no agreement was reached within the next ten days.

Ljubic, who organised the meeting, said that an early election would make no sense because it would not resolve the existing problems. He blamed the SDP and the SDA for the failure of the meeting because they refused his proposal for the division of ministerial posts.

The participants in the meeting confirmed they would travel together to Italy next week to attend a conference on the constitutional structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina, organised by several foundations, including the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The conference is seen as a chance to continue negotiations on government formation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.