Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the effect on the Dayton Agreement of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

The UK's commitment to peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, as a member of the Peace Implementation Council in our own right, does not depend on our membership of the EU. Indeed, at the Western Balkans Summit last July the Prime Minister announced a doubling of our bilateral assistance and a substantial increase to our staffing in the region, with security a major priority.

EUFOR is mandated by the UN to implement the military aspects of Dayton. The UK fully supports the objectives of EUFOR Operation Althea, its continuing UN Chapter VII mandate, and the Berlin Plus arrangements from which it benefits. We will continue to do so as we leave the EU, and we intend to maintain a contribution to the Operation. In the event of a No Deal Brexit a separate agreement with the EU would be required for UK troops to continue in the Operation. We have made clear to the EU that we are open to reaching such an agreement.