The European Union has rejected any referendum on independence for the ethnic-Serb part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, prompting senior Serbian officials to complain about international “double standards” in peacemaking and political reconstruction.

Calls for a referendum in the Srpska republic, the Serb-dominated statelet in eastern Bosnia, come as a disservice to citizens in that economically depressed section of the country, according to Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner. Holding a referendum there “is not a good idea, and it is not a welcome idea.”