Representatives of Serb parliamentary parties in Republika Srpska (RS) reached a consensus on Tuesday that before a decision is made about Bosnia-Herzegovina's (BiH) joining NATO it is necessary to conduct a referendum in RS, and that Serbia's attitude towards the Alliance should be "monitored."

President of the Democratic People's Alliance (DNS) Marko Pavic said that the attitude of the party was that RS should not join NATO and that it should discuss its accession process with Serbia, because, he said, there should be no borders on the river Drina dividing those who are in NATO and those who are not.

"I think that all our partners will understand the decision of ours, as we do not want such a barrier on the Drina, and we want our citizens to have the right, as have the citizens of any other country in the world, to declare about it at a referendum," Pavic said after meeting with RS President Milorad Dodik and representatives of parliamentary parties of the BiH entity, BiH media reported.

President of the Democratic Party (DS) Dragan Cavic said that the leaders of the Serbian parties in RS had agreed on the NATO joining issue, although it had been expected that there would be confronting views about it.

President of the Party of United Pensioners (PUP) Ilija Stevancevic said that he saw no reason why RS should not join NATO if Serbia did, adding that he hoped that there would be no pressures on RS politicians in terms of imposition of solutions, as it had been the case with the Office of the High Representative so far.

Chairman of the National Democratic Party Krsto Jandric backed the views of the presidents of the RS parliamentary parties.

The meeting was also attended by RS parliament Speaker Igor Radojicic.