“It is obvious that the messages of the director of the CIA had an impact on Vucic as well. Burns is a man who does not waste time in protocol visits and he came to tell those people what will happen if they continue to behave the way they have been behaving,“ told deputy of Nasa stranka (Our Party) in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PABiH), Predrag Kojovic, who, among other things, yesterday commented on the recent visit of the first man of the CIA to BiH and the region.
Interview question: Is there an announcement of a meeting of the ruling coalition?
For now, there are no announcements for the meeting, for some reason the partners from HDZ and SNSD do not think this is a good time. We will have to wait after October 7th for some talks.
Interview question: SIPA’s director appointment failed. Will the work of the Parliament and the Council of Ministers be blocked after this, as announced by Minister Nenad Nesic?
I hope that it will not happen (blockade), I would advise them not to do it. We have an announcement of problematic appointments, our ministers refused to put it on the agenda at the Council of Ministers. There must be a rational explanation for why someone suggests the third-ranked candidate. In this case,we don’t have that.
Interview question: And the first-ranked one is said to have met the conditions for retirement?
There is a certain ranking list that should be respected.
Interview question: There are still two days left until the sale of the state property of BHRT in order to settle the debt of 20 million BAM to the European Broadcasting Union. Does the government have a solution to this problem or will the BHRT property be lost?
I hope not, we have been dealing with it for the last few days. Many think that Minister Forto has the key to solutions, but this is not true. He is not in any legal position… I remind you of the fact that the largest part of the debt was incurred from 2005 to 2016 and BHRT did not receive help from the Council of Ministers. I hope, since the hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, that the hearing will be postponed to give us time to find a solution.
Interview question: The Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Srdjan Amidzic, announced the adoption of amendments to the law for the abolition of VAT on the purchase of the first real estate. The opposition suspects that this is a pre-election trick?
I don’t think so, I know that Minister Amidzic worked on this for a long time. For the first time, we received a proposal that was studiously made, that has projections on the budget, etc. It is economically based on facts and we can support it.
Interview question: Should we have even gone to Brussels last week without a complete Reform Plan? Did Borjana Kristo act against the rules by sending a document that is not harmonized and does not meet the criteria of the European Commission?
Kristo did not go to Brussels with the Growth Plan, she presented information on the degree of compliance. She informed them that 111 out of 113 measures had been agreed. We still haven’t received an assessment of whether these 111 measures are sufficient.
Interview question: Do you plan to continue working on fulfilling the priorities? Is there any goodwill for it?
I think there is goodwill, we should continue to talk, especially related to these two measures that are not harmonized.
Interview question: How do you comment on the recent meeting between Schmidt and Izetbegovic? Was it all for the purpose of SDA unblocking the Growth Plan?
I saw that meeting in the following way, the next day Schmidt also met with representatives of the “Coalition of Three” and he told us that the topics were the same with all of them – the continuation of work on the Growth Plan and the need to sit down and start seriously discussing state assets.
Interview question: How do you comment on the move of the Republika Srpska (RS) related to the unique number for emergency situations? Is it a sign of readiness for cooperation?
I hope that Minister Amidzic‘s proposal on VAT and this number means willingness to cooperate, but we have to wait and see.
Interview question: CIA director William Burns was also in Sarajevo in August. This was followed by a surprising message from Milorad Dodik in which he says that secession was never the policy of the RS. How do you comment on that turn?
I’m glad you noticed too. It is obvious that those messages had an impact on Vucic as well. Burns is a man who wastes no time in protocol visits, and he has come to tell these people what will happen if they continue to behave as they have.
Interview question: Dodik also in September before the Court of BiH. Many say that thanks to the trial, he and the SNSD will score points in the upcoming local elections. How do you see the outcome of this situation?
My impression is that this is a court that is absolutely doing its job. I think that the Court of BiH will make a decision that I don’t want to prejudge, and you also saw in America that criminal proceedings were fuel for Trump.
Interview question: How do you see the fact that High Representative Christian Schmidt will go to the European Court of Human Rights and testify there in the “Slaven Kovacevic” case, but will not go before the Court of BiH in the case against Dodik and Lukic?
I didn’t realize he was going as a witness. I understood that his status is a friend of the court, and it is the court’s right to call an expert to help understand a case. But he does not go as a witness and not on his initiative, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
