The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina unanimously granted consent for organizing the voting of citizens of Serbia on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the early parliamentary elections to be held on October 25. After making the decision, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Staša Košarac, said it is about a “serious political victory for the leadership of Republika Srpska,” while accusing the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, of “anti-Serb hysteria.” Košarac also asserted that during the negotiations, the Serb side achieved its political goals, while Konaković, according to him, received exclusively technical matters.
Commenting on the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s decision, Košarac leveled a series of accusations against Konaković, claiming he had previously tried to prevent the organization of voting for citizens of Serbia in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I have to say that we are witnessing a continuous anti-Serb hysteria of Minister Konaković and another structure, who probably think that they will, based on such anti-Serb hysteria, win some votes. We know how those elections went,” Košarac said.
According to his claims, the opposition to organizing the vote targeted Republika Srpska and Serbia.
“I think the goal was to prevent the citizens of the Republic of Serbia from voting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is a very tendentious expression and, I would say, a segment of anti-Serb hysteria,” he stated.
Košarac said that a large number of citizens of Serb nationality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily from Republika Srpska, also hold Serbian citizenship, and asserted that this was one of the reasons for Konaković’s opposition.
“I don’t know what else he was trying to do except continue to settle scores with Republika Srpska and Serbia,” he said.
“Serious Political Victory of Republika Srpska Leadership”
Košarac further assessed that the unanimous decision of the Council of Ministers in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a “result of the political action of the leaderships of Republika Srpska and Serbia.”
He especially emphasized the policies of Milorad Dodik and former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, linking the decision on voting to their efforts to further strengthen relations between the entity of Republika Srpska and Serbia.
“I think, above all, that this is an important national and Serb matter, because we want, based on the policies of the Republika Srpska leadership and President Dodik, and the Republic of Serbia and President Vučić, to exercise our right and vote in the elections in Serbia, which are on October 25. In this way, we would give support to the current political structure in the Republic of Serbia,” Košarac said.
He added that he wants the continuation of political relations between Republika Srpska and Serbia, referencing the declaration adopted at the “All-Serbian Assembly.”
He also reflected on previous Konaković’s statements about the voting of Serbian citizens and possible expulsion of the Serbian ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“We heard from Konaković that he will not vote, so we heard from him that he will expel the ambassador of the Republic of Serbia. That speaks of hysteria. Today, we have a situation where Konaković voted for consent and that the Council of Ministers made a unanimous decision,” Košarac said.
He assessed such an outcome as a political victory.
Košarac: “We Got the National and Political Matter; the Other Side Got Technical Ones”
Košarac also revealed what, according to him, was the subject of harmonization before the decision was made.
“We got very important national and Serb matters as a political issue, and that is that citizens of the Republic of Serbia can vote in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This means that we from Republika Srpska can vote in the elections in Serbia, and the other side, with which we conducted harmonization, received exclusively technical matters,” he stated.
He then directly commented on negotiations with Konaković.
“That is what I mean when I say it is easy to negotiate with Konaković, that we achieve all our national and political matters, while he gets technical matters,” Košarac said.
What, according to Košarac, did Konaković get in Return?
Explaining what he means by technical questions, Košarac said it is about the base salary calculation for employees in the diplomatic and consular network of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the purchase of buildings for embassies.
“Technical questions are, above all, the adoption of the base salary calculation in the diplomatic-consular network. Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs all participate there,” he said.
According to him, it is about a regular item of the agenda that could have been decided on at one of the upcoming sessions.
“Today, we voted for a regular item, perhaps one we would have voted on October 28, so that it is known how salaries are calculated for employees in diplomatic and consular representations,” he stated.
The second issue that was agreed upon, as he claims, referred to the purchase of embassy buildings in Rome, Madrid, and the Vatican.
Košarac emphasized that those facilities will also be used in the future by ambassadors appointed from Republika Srpska.
“These are, above all, buildings where Serbian ambassadors will sit in the future. These are rotating ambassadorial positions, so new ambassadors coming from Republika Srpska will sit in those new premises. Well, that is what we agreed upon,” he concluded.
What Preceded the Agreement: Konaković Conditioned Support on Unblocking MFA Decisions
The decision that enabled voting by the citizens of Serbia on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was preceded by political negotiations and two extraordinary phone sessions of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held on the same day.
Apparently, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, announced the day before that ministers from the Bosniak people would not support consent for organizing the vote unless certain decisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina were unblocked beforehand.
Konaković claimed that the ministers of SNSD have been blocking for months a series of questions under the jurisdiction of his ministry, including the purchase of premises for the diplomatic-consular missions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the appointment of attachés in certain European countries, and the determination of the base salary calculation for employees in the diplomatic and consular network.
“We proposed to unblock it all, to let the voting go through as well. However, they decided to go down another path. Tomorrow, that item will not have the support of Bosniak ministers and will not pass,” Konaković stated on October 19 for Fena.
He warned that the organization of elections on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina without consent of the competent institutions could have consequences for the personnel of the Embassy of Serbia in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“In the event that Serbia decides to organize elections without the permission of the Council of Ministers or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I have informed the Serbian authorities that we will send the people from the embassy home, in accordance with my competencies, all those who do this before the elections,” Konaković said.
First, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs items were adopted, then Voting Approved.
Because of this conditioning, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina first held the 88th extraordinary telephone session on October 20, during which items proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina were considered.
At that sessions, the proposed materials and conclusions, including issues regarding the base salary calculation for employees in diplomatic and consular missions, the appointment of the Swiss defense attachés to Bosnia and Herzegovina with headquarters in Belgrade, and investments in diplomatic and consular facilities in Madrid, Rome, and the Vatican.
Only after that was the 89th extraordinary telephone session held, requested at the initiative of Staša Košarac, at which unanimous consent was given to organize the voting of citizens of Serbia in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the parliamentary elections on October 25.
Thus, the sequence of decision-making shows that the items insisted upon by Konaković for unblocking were adopted first, and then the voting of Serbian citizens was approved, which Košarac presented in his address as a political victory for the leadership of Republika Srpska.
While Košarac claims that his side achieved the national and political goals, and Konaković received only technical matters, the previous statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the adoption of those exact decisions was his condition for supporting the organization of the vote, N1 writes.
