SARAJEVO, Bosnia (AFP) — EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton yesterday vowed practical help for troubled Bosnia to achieve its hopes of entering into the European Union.

Tempers in the divided Balkans country have been running high since Bosnian Serbs passed a law enabling an EU membership referendum. There are now fears that the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Sprska could be seeking a vote on independence.

Ashton, who has arrived in Bosnia late Wednesday on the first leg of a Balkan tour which will also include Serbia and Kosovo, stressed the importance of the EU to the region and said she had “three simple messages” for Bosnia.

“First, this is one country with different communities. Second, the future of this great country is in the EU and third, we do stand ready to help practically this country to achieve its ambitions,” Ashton told reporters in Sarajevo after meeting Nikola Spiric, prime minister of Bosnia’s central government.

The EU foreign affairs chief was expected in Belgrade later yesterday, for talks with Serbian leaders.

Ahead of the visit, Ashton described the Western Balkans as a top priority for the EU.

Post-war Bosnia consists of two highly autonomous entities — the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. Each has its own government.

Bosnian Serbs have refused to strengthen Bosnia’s central institutions, a move sought by the international community to make the country more functional.

Last week Bosnian Serb lawmakers approved legislation making it easier to call a referendum, a move seen by critics including the international community’s top envoy to Bosnia, as paving the way for an independence vote.

Such a vote could shatter the 1995 Dayton peace accord which ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, in which about 100,000 people died.

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said a secession vote was not on the agenda for now.