Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Chairwoman Željka Cvijanović stated today after a meeting with the President of the European Council Antonio Costa in Sarajevo that Bosnia and Herzegovina has been set complex tasks, reiterating that she considers the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, to be the most responsible for the current political crisis in the country.
She stated that Costa informed the members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina about some of the things that the EU expects from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We have done a lot in the previous period. It was a period of moderately stable institutional setup, which enabled us to reach an agreement. As a result of the agreement, we have had some progress,” Cvijanović told reporters in Sarajevo.
She assessed that the halt in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s European path was due to the “unconstitutional interventions” of the High Representative, which, as she assessed, “brought the country into a crisis and therefore it cannot fulfill further obligations towards the EU”.
“With the support of the EU, we can restore it and embark on the path of democratic institutions that fulfill their obligations without any impositions”, said Cvijanović.
According to her words, she expects the EU to recognize BiH as “a sufficiently credible country, which should do its job with its own institutions, without any interventions”.
She also emphasized that she does not see a threat of any conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina nor that there are any problems related to the extension of the EUFOR mandate.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Member Denis Bećirović said that at the meeting with Costa he warned of the security threat in Bosnia and Herzegovina, adding that it could also be a threat to the European Union.
He assessed that the crisis in the country is being produced by Dodik and the RS leadership.
“The sole and central cause of the most serious crisis since Dayton to this day is the pro-Russian, separatist policy of the RS leadership. This should not be relativized or wrapped in political cellophane, it is a problem for both our state and the EU, because it is obvious that the President of the RS is a puppet in the hands of Moscow, which is intended to destabilize this part of Europe,” Bećirović emphasized.
According to him, for the first time since 1995, there is “a serious danger of an armed conflict between legal state institutions and renegade elements at the lower entity level.”
“The EU is also aware of this, which is why sanctions have been introduced,” Bećirović said.
He added that the messages from the President of the European Council were encouraging and that the EU “must show the capacity and strength to stop the peacebreakers,” assessing that “the claims that someone is trying to endanger the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina are untrue.”
After the meeting with Costa, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić said that Bosnia and Herzegovina has not met any of the EU’s requirements for opening negotiations.
“It happens that laws are adopted that are loudly hailed as European, and then a cold shower comes from Brussels when they say ‘that’s not it, you have to harmonize it with European standards'”, said Komšić.
He also stated that a chief negotiator with the EU has not been appointed nor has a growth plan been adopted, Beta writes.
