The Chairwoman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina(BiH), Zeljka Cvijanovic, said that she initiated the mechanism for the protection of vital entity interest because she believes that the institutional response through the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS) is the best barrier against attempts to “use the BiH Presidency for political confrontations.”
She said that after being outvoted in two rounds of voting by the other two members of the BiH Presidency on the item on the agenda titled “Consideration of the internal-political situation in BiH in light of attacks by the authorities of the RS entity on the constitutional order of BiH,” she decided to initiate the mechanism for the protection of vital entity interest.
What is the “controversial” point?
Cvijanovic said during her address at the special session of the NARS that the contested conclusion has eight segments, of which “the points that define the NARS’s decisions as unconstitutional and anti-Dayton are the most destructive.”
Cvijanovic explained that these are the points that call for the dismissal of leadership in police-intelligence agencies and for EUFOR to provide assistance to these agencies at the level of BiH, the Federation of BiH (FBiH), and the Brcko District with the aim of arresting fugitives from the law – Milorad Dodik, Radovan Viskovic, and Nenad Stevandic.
“I take this opportunity to once again repeat that BiH is in a serious constitutional and political crisis, however, not for the reasons stated in the controversial Conclusion, but for the same reasons that have pushed BiH from crisis to crisis, namely the actions of unelected foreigners who have usurped the authority of democratically elected parliaments and imposed solutions contrary to the Dayton Agreement, namely Annex Four which is the Constitution of BiH, and Annex Ten which does not give the high representatives the right to impose laws, and also contrary to the process of European integration, which recognizes only the actions of democratically elected institutions, but not of unelected foreigners.
What BiH has faced for the last 30 years, through the illegal actions of foreign representatives, is an unprecedented dictatorship in the modern world, worse than any colonial administration, which is suffocating democracy and has brought society, already facing numerous challenges, to the brink of collapse,” said the Chairwoman of the Presidency of BiH.
She reiterated the position that the competent entity institutions “have adopted various acts and countermeasures in order to defend themselves from the imposed decisions of an unauthorized foreign legislator and from manipulations and legal violence to which BiH has been exposed for almost two decades.”
“The controversial Conclusion in point 8 contains a request by which the EUFOR Mission, as a security force operating under the patronage of the European Union (EU), is to be involved in resolving the political and constitutional crisis in BiH in such a way that they confront the legal leadership and institutions of RS and thereby serve to realize the political goals of political Sarajevo, with the story of overthrowing the constitutional order being just a facade, and the real goals having long been known and recognized. The mandate of the EUFOR Mission in BiH has two parts, executive – which operates within the mandate of the United Nations (UN)Security Council and is carried out by the EU Foreign Affairs Council, and non-executive – which pertains to assisting in the training of the Armed Forces of BiH (AFBiH),” said Cvijanovic.
“EUFOR has no authority”
She stated that EUFOR has no authority to assist domestic security agencies in the manner requested in the Conclusion of the state presidency.
“The fact is that the jurisdiction of foreign armies according to the rights granted by the annexes of the Dayton Peace Agreement is in preserving the peace aspects of the Dayton solution, not in interfering in imposed political situations and questions. A foreign army such as EUFOR should be allowed to carry out its mission of preserving peace and stability with full respect, and not be drawn into the sphere of political confrontations and tensions in the country,” she said.
Cvijanovic assessed in the NARS that “it is never a good time to call on or involve a foreign military force to intervene.”
“There are too many bitter memories in RS of those days, from bombings to the horrors experienced by the parish priest Jeremija Starovlah and his son, religious teacher Aleksandar, whose perpetrators were never punished and whose vandalistic and murderous rampage was never based on proven reasons. If anything can be a reminder and a warning that certain things must not be allowed, then it is this crime against the clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2004,” she added.
Cvijanovic finally called on the people’s deputies to support her veto and to “jointly demonstrate responsibility toward RS and the positions of its most important institutions.”, N1 writes.
