Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has, for now, lost the first tranche of funds from the Growth Plan. Politicians are shifting the blame onto each other. The country is sending a negative image to Brussels, and it was only necessary to agree on one document. Is there hope for catching up? This question was posed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH and leader of the NIP, Elmedin Konakovic, in an interview.
At the beginning of the interview, Konakovic explained why the cantonal prime ministers were given such a short time to provide their opinions on the Reform Plan and that opposition leaders were also contacted to support this document.
“There are still some chances. We are making efforts to make Europe understand the complexity of the situation in BiH. We have some understanding from Europe, but we also need to show some seriousness. The sword of Damocles hangs over us that we might be left without the Growth Plan. This is a process that has been ongoing for months. I am not a member of that working group; I asked my colleagues. I don’t know how long they had it before me. The story about the Constitutional Court is not new. Those who say it is are deceiving the public. We would never have received SNSD’s consent. Their Dayton rights allow them to block everything,” said Konakovic.
“We need to adapt to Europe, not the other way around. It was worth sending a document with 111 measures. To show people what we are losing. I would be happy with 113. Europe could have some understanding, allowing us to get some additional deadlines. I couldn’t understand why SDA would block this Growth Plan. They are deceiving the public about BiH’s future. I regret that Izetbegovic did not want to go through all these points. They are not ready to say which solutions are problematic. They are trying to wash the stain off themselves (SDA). SNSD is more to blame. SDA has shot itself in the foot in this process. It was possible to bypass the cantonal levels.”
He also addressed claims from film workers that the Coalition of the Three had shut them down.
“We promise cultural workers that they will receive adequate support. They have not been supported for years and they deserve it. They deserve more significant support. We must pay attention to every segment of life, and other institutions deserve support. Given what we found, companies have not clearly informed the public about what they discovered there,” noted Konakovic.
He spoke about the work of the Council of Ministers of BiH.
“There are more laws than before. Let the public count the laws we have passed. Let them be the judge. Let it be seen what we have lost in the previous years. Of course, it is not comparable to previous administrations,” said Konakovic.
Elmedin Konakovic also commented on the signing of the Agreement between the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Government of the Republic of Serbia on police cooperation, signed on December 3rd, 2010, and ratified on August 25th, 2011, in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PABiH), and September 14th in the House of Peoples of the PABiH.
“I will never agree with what Komsic and Izetbegovic signed. When the Serbian Government decides to do something with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska (RS), and informs the central point about it. They allowed these things to stand. BiH cannot conduct an action with the police administration of Novi Pazar; it must go through the state ministry. I only ask that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia not operate at the entity level but at the state level. The Serbian police have sent people here to kill. As long as Serbia maintains such relations with BiH and demonstrates that it does not respect sovereignty, this concerns me. Ivica Dacic was very wise in this matter. It seems to me that they will celebrate the signing of this agreement. Serbia has a partner in BiH as long as they respect us, but when they don’t, they will receive double disrespect. That’s the message from BiH,” Konakovic stated, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
