The decision of the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Staša Košarac, to withdraw the representative of this ministry from the Commission for Cooperation with NATO caused a storm of reactions. As he stated in his post on Twitter, the representative from his ministry will not participate in the work of that Commission in accordance with the position of the institutions of the Republika Srpska. At the same time, the Chairman of the Commission confirmed that there is no official notification yet about the withdrawal of individual members from the Commission. Does BiH’s path towards NATO depend on such moves?
After the line minister Staša Košarac withdrew the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Commission for Cooperation with NATO, he announced in his tweet that he informed the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina about everything.
“I informed the Deputy Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aleksandar Goganović, that the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not participate in the work of the Commission for Cooperation with NATO, in accordance with the position of the institutions of the Republika Srpska. The policy of the Republic of Srpska regarding this issue is unambiguous and clear – NO NATO membership.”
His party leader Milorad Dodik is of the same opinion, who during a recent visit to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, speaking about NATO, said that Republika Srpska stands for neutrality.
MILORAD DODIK, President of the Republika Srpska
“The story about NATO, we said that we follow Serbia’s position in this regard. It is very clear, neutrality and non-adherence to any bloc is also our policy, but we are not in favor of being put in a position through insidious activities and fraudulent processes day we realize that we are being questioned, that we have to accept something.”
And while some members are withdrawing from the commission by order, the chairman of the BiH-NATO Cooperation Commission, Josip Brkić, told BHT1 that BiH institutions continue to cooperate with NATO, stressing that there is no official notification yet about the withdrawal of individual members from the Commission.
JOSIP BRKIĆ, chairman of the BiH-NATO Cooperation Commission
“It is also a fact that BiH, through its institutions, primarily the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Security, Foreign Affairs, works and cooperates with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and with NATO. So I believe that the commission will be formed, that we will continue this technical level of cooperation, and the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina will certainly continue cooperation with NATO, each in its own domain.
Military and political analyst Đuro Kozar reminds us that a lot of documents have been signed that are in force and oblige BiH to move closer to NATO.
ĐURO KOZAR, military-political analyst
“BiH’s path to NATO does not depend on Dodik or his ministers or deputies in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The reform commission will continue its work because it will still have members from the Bosniak and Croat people, and I hope that in that job and soon include representatives of the Serbian people in that Commission.”
Finally, Kozar reminds that our country also participates in peacekeeping missions in the world, and that several multinational military exercises have been held.
