The largest Croat political parties in BiH are unanimous that the time has come to end the work of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and that representatives of the three constituent peoples should take responsibility for the country after the US and EU administrations disagreed on the continuation of supervision.
The HDZ BiH stressed that the current model of supervision over Bosnia and Herzegovina no longer brings stability to the country. They believe that the management of the OHR must not last for decades. They are against the application of broad Bonn powers, which, according to the same allegations, were the main source of instability.
“This turning point is extremely important, I hope, a wake-up call for all of us in BiH. Far more important than who comes as the new High Representative is that the people of this country elect their own representatives and take responsibility for their decisions. In this process, the support and encouragement of the US, as well as the understanding of the EU, are extremely important,” said HDZ BiH Vice President Darijana Filipović, who is also the party’s candidate in the elections for the Presidency of BiH.
HDZ leader in 1990, Ilija Cvitanović, expressed a similar tone. He pointed out that there is no alternative for domestic politicians to take responsibility and speed up the EU path.
“It is necessary to fully intensify the fulfillment of the conditions on the EU path and in this way to end the story with the OHR and the high representative. The future of BiH must be built through an internal agreement of the representatives of the constituent nations”, the leader of that party pointed out.
After the two-day session of the Peace Implementation Council in Sarajevo, the American Embassy in Sarajevo blamed the EU for not appointing a new high representative, the Italian diplomat Antonio Zanardi Landi, who was the American favorite.
The Bosniak side, led by Denis Bećirović, advocates the retention of Bonn powers and positions itself closer to the EU position, while the Serbian side, led by Milorad Dodik, takes a position closer to the American vision of the OHR transition, Hina writes.
