UK, Germany tell Bosnian leaders to get on with EU-requested reforms or brace for turmoil

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier have warned Bosnian leaders that they must get on with reforms requested by the EU if they want to avoid social upheaval.

Hammond told Bosnia's parliament Friday the EU offer to unlock financial aid to the troubled Balkan country and upgrade its status with the bloc in exchange for legal, social and economic reforms was "unrepeatable."

Hammond said Bosnia's tanking economy leaves no time for delay or obstructionism, urging the country's leaders to "put behind long years of wrangling and stagnation."

Failure to do so, he said, would trigger "grave political consequences" heralded by last year's massive protests over high unemployment that turned into rioting in which more than 100 people were hurt and government buildings set on fire.