The European Union welcomed the new milestone in the relations between the European Union and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was reached thanks to the decision of the European Council in December 2022, to grant Bosnia and Herzegovina the status of a candidate country. However, it also expressed serious concern about the events in the Republika Srpska. It could be said: different messages came from Brussels, but it is not surprising because different attitudes were also taken to Bosnia and Herzegovina. delegation to Brussels. In short, nothing new in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Praise and criticism from Brussels. Once again, we have shown that regardless of the coordination mechanism, the commitment to the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot reach a unified position among BH politicians. The EU created a document on BiH which was adopted by consensus and all 27 members signed, three BiH officials did not have a unified position on it. We did not agree on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zukan Helez said after returning to Sarajevo.
“Staša Košarac had objections to certain parts. I had a certain pressure to accept from this BiH delegation. And that is first of all the situation and the one who caused these problems in BiH, which are the decisions of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. The statement of European officials, the official document, the fourth passport accurately diagnoses who caused the problem in this current crisis, which is the NSRS and Milorad Dodik,” says the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Any joint statements where the Republika Srpska is put in a negative context are unacceptable and absolutely our position was completely justified that there is no need to make any joint statement, especially a statement in which the RS will be qualified as the culprit for certain processes,” said BiH Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Staša Košarac categorically.
Although in an official statement the EU expressed serious concern over legislative initiatives and announcements in the Republika Srpska entity that contradict the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including secessionist rhetoric and questioning the constitutional order of the state, and stressed that all political leaders must engage in constructive dialogue in order to prioritize internal political issues, some are nevertheless optimistic.
“I personally expressed the view that dialogue in BiH, mutual respect, consensus and respect for constitutional competences leads to progress in the fulfillment of these reform processes and the achievement of the goal towards the EU,” stressed the chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Borjana Krišto.
We asked analysts how they see this presentation in Brussels and the results of the meeting.
“Honestly speaking, when I read this, especially after the press conference of Borrell and Kristo, it seems as if those people were not at the same meeting, that’s how it seems to me. Borrell said something very encouraging as far as I saw, and then at the end he concluded that, after all, it is a dangerous secession and he said you know who I mean but I won’t name Republika Srpska but actually I said for everyone. We will use powers if we are forced to but we would not like to use them to Brussels. We still have a stalemate,” said political analyst Dragan Markovina.
“I am not at all surprised by what happened. It belongs to the everyday life of our country. That they are stagnating, that’s for sure, in some situations they even go backwards, in some situations they even regress. In principle, they are bad from the beginning, there is no will, the obstructions are maximum, there is no unity,” points out political analyst Mladen Bubonjić from Banja Luka.
The reason why BH delegation went to Brussels and what is BiH what the public expected could only be guessed between the lines of politicians’ statements. However, it is clear that the crisis in BiH is not big enough for the European Union to dare to take more concrete steps. Everything is again up to domestic politicians.
“Neither the public nor the politicians in BiH are more clear about what the vision is, that is, the path that the EU sees for BiH. On the one hand, praise for what has been done, great. On the other hand, some interesting announcements about the possibilities in the future, but on the third hand, we are left somewhere between the message that the decision to annul the decisions of the Constitutional Court has no legal basis and that for the EU in this sense it is unacceptable, as well as the changes to the criminal code that will reduce freedom of expression. It remains that, regardless of all that, it is not difficult for the EU to change its policy towards BiH”, notes European integration analyst Adi Ćerimagić.
In such a situation, it is difficult to expect that BiH politicians are working rapidly to fulfill 14 key priorities, they will rather go on annual vacations not to think about what they could have done but did not do. And the next exam will be in October, when BH delegation goes to Brussels again.
