After yesterday’s meeting on electoral reforms, Dragan Covic, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), said that they had finished their work two days ago, but that no solution had been reached.
”After nine months, we are trying to discuss and seek these solutions on various occasions regarding the Election Law and the restrictions on changes to the Constitution, and in part, we have succeeded. Yesterday we had the job done, then it was problematized on one side, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) side, in a way that there were some additions to what we have set as a standard so far.
I am sad because Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) lost the most with this. I think that the same goal was clear at the beginning, if nothing is agreed, to stay in the status quo, and only the SDA has been doing that for the last nine months. I have said that many times during these negotiations in Sarajevo and Neum, and even here today. On the other hand, I see it as a brutal blow to BiH and for the current political situation in BiH, but also when we look at our environment and what awaits us in the time ahead, but we must continue, there is nothing else,” Covic explained yesterday.
I think this was a futile job
He said some issues were sorted out.
”They can serve as a framework for further negotiations, and those who tried to dismantle the Federation of BiH (FBiH) in organizational terms, I can only tell them now, they have not succeeded now, nor will they ever succeed, because they are destroying BiH with it. This is not a European BiH, to take away those key elements of Dayton, to make a Dayton two in principle, which was tried to be done here.
I think it was a futile job here and I am glad that yesterday five of the six of us accepted the model it was, which solves all the problems we put in front of us, even the one around the functioning of the Federation. Yesterday I stayed or I denied you an answer to what we, as Croats, suggested here. Here we were very clearly ready for three or four clear concessions, which someone called a blockade, I would say that was proposed so BiH could be more functional, however, to their surprise or the surprise of SDA, they did not think that we would give it. When we gave that, they went further, then we said that we cannot go any further, that BiH cannot be demolished, in a way that the key outlines of Dayton are demolished right through the FBiH,”Covic added yesterday.
There will be a lot of questions about that now
Answering questions from journalists, Covic noted that there were four elements in the overall solutions.
The HDZ leader said there were no conditions for the elections to take place.
”In my opinion, there are absolutely no conditions for holding elections. Precisely because of the non-implementation of the judgment of the Court in Strasbourg and all other issues. Now there will be a lot of questions about what, who, how. We have managed so far to preserve the credibility of the negotiation process and that is why my final word is ‘thank you‘ for those who spent the last nine months with us and you who followed and reported correctly, and those who sent messages during the negotiations, how they see the partners and the solution of relations in the Federation, especially regarding endangering the relations between Croats and Bosniaks. So, we will see what will happen next,” Covic concluded.
