Bosnia-Herzegovina's parliament approved a new government on Friday, some 16 months after general elections.

The top six parties from the October 2010 ballot ironed out a power-sharing agreement in December, dividing up the prime minister's position and the cabinet posts. The prime minister's post will go to Vjekoslav Bevanda, a Bosnian Croat, with the nine portfolios divided between the three major groups in the country: Muslims, Serbs and Croats.

Parliament approved this plan by 26 votes to seven on Friday, with one abstention.

The new cabinet pledged to immediately tackle the country's economic problems, most notably the absence of a national budget - a result of the parliamentary deadlock. The cabinet will also have to retroactively pass a budget for last year, 2011.

Prime Minister Bevanda, a former regional finance minister, also said "this year will be the year of the European Union in Bosnia," alluding to the country's ambitions to be recognized as an official candidate for EU membership.

Making up for lost time

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton encouraged the country of 3.8 million people to press on with its European integration agenda, appearing to address the country's lack of a budget in a written statement.

"A sound economic and fiscal policy is an essential prerequisite for the country's EU integration process," the statement, co-authored by EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Fuele, said.

In the shorter term, the cash-strapped country needs to set out a general economic policy in order to qualify for assistance loans from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission; these funds had been frozen as a result of the parliamentary impasse.

The US embassy said in a statement about the deeply divided country that it hoped the new government "will provide serious, productive leadership, putting aside personal differences to find common ground."

msh/ng (AP, dpa)