The meeting of delegations of parties and coalitions that make up the government at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina has ended. The leaders of the hosts HDZ BiH, the “Troika” (SDP BiH, NS and NiP) and SNSD met in Mostar, and discussed several open issues and current topics in the country. One of the topics, as stated by Dragan Čović, was personnel problems.
“Without Mr. Konaković, we had a discussion about foreign affairs, the performance of our representatives in institutions around the world. One or another Bosniak member of the Presidency in the United Nations represents himself and deeply insults the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus violates the Dayton Agreement and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We want to regulate it by amending the law that is in the procedure in the Parliament, in such a way that no one can present their views on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, said Čović, the president of the HDZ of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He praised the atmosphere at the meeting, saying that it took place in a good atmosphere.
“They told each other what was wrong. I think we have taken a step forward with every law. If we agree on some things, and it seems to me that this will be the case, we can resolve laws that are at one stage in the parliamentary procedure. In the next two weeks, all committees must sit down and work. We will need to sit down two or three more times. I assure you that we will get candidate status”, Čović announced optimistically.
Nermin Nikšić, president of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDP BiH), praised the level of readiness for dialogue and compromise. He believes that only in such an atmosphere can Bosnia and Herzegovina move forward.
“I’m often called out for talking about compromise, and I think it’s easiest to argue and look for what will divide us and drive us apart. Today we were all ready to look for solutions. We have made certain strides and are getting closer to solutions, although there are different views on the problems. We wish to try to fulfill as many conditions as possible on the way to the European Union. In that case, Bosnia and Herzegovina would have the opportunity to participate more in pre-accession funds. The national team competition is not in question, I believe that whoever of the three of us loses, Bosnia and Herzegovina would also lose. Every step forward is in the interest of citizens. If we manage to maintain the atmosphere and gather around all these things and accept that the concession is a victory for the community and not a capitulation, we can say that the policy we are leading and what we are doing is yielding results. I hope that there will be no quarrels”, said Nikšić.
Milorad Dodik, president of the SNSD, was more honest than Čović and Nikšić, saying that nothing concrete has been agreed even today, but that there are still advances.
“We didn’t do anything to make a decision. The package we created is based on 14 priorities. All the previous laws were mentioned, we have already implemented five or six of them, with the fact that we did something related to the Berlin process. We sorted the laws. One of the problems we talked about is the work of the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The CEC was elected suspiciously and not in accordance with the law. The law must be changed and we are working on it. Difficult issues of electoral reform await us. We are also discussing changes and enabling the prerequisites for the formation of the CEC. As for the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have been warning for years about the fact that it was formed by illegal decisions of the High Representative. We need to start a new decision on this. We have an agreement that an Appellate Panel should be formed at the level of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We believe that the seat of that Council should be in Banja Luka. The Bosniak side does not agree with that. As for the Constitutional Court, we submitted proposals for the working group, and we are still waiting for proposals from Bosniak representatives. We need to maintain the atmosphere of conversation,” said Dodik.
This time he also praised the atmosphere at the meetings.
“We have a promising atmosphere. We are all ready to say everything, and to move on, not concrete. We have to deliver results. Change behavior at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina… We do not accept that someone in the UN expresses only his views. It is the destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We’re not going to see that kind of story anymore. Yesterday we had unpleasant events in Kosovo. In order for someone on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina to express a position on this, then it should be agreed upon. It is not a terrorist act from our side. If we can’t agree, then at least keep quiet about it. We are moving towards resolving these issues. It is difficult for Bosniaks to resolve the issue of the Constitutional Court, but we will have to,” said Dodik, AA reports.
