University professor at Johns Hopkins in Washington, Daniel Serwer, reacted to yesterday’s speech by the United States (U.S.) Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O’Brien.
“Jim O’Brien is his own best commentator when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Now, the test is what he, BiH political leaders, and citizens are doing to turn words into reality,” Serwer wrote in a post on X.
It should be mentioned that during his lecture at the Faculty of Political Sciences, O’Brien presented several strong positions on U.S. policy towards BiH.
He criticized Dragan Covic and his blockade of the Southern Gas Interconnection project, as well as Milorad Dodik and the SDA. O’Brien supported the stay of foreign judges in the Constitutional Court and the High Representative in all impositions.
It is hard not to notice that while the vast majority of citizens are struggling to make ends meet, some political leaders and their families are getting richer every day.
This was stated by James O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs of the United States (U.S.) in Sarajevo during his visit to the Faculty of Political Sciences on February 2nd, where he spoke about the relations between the U.S. and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), after which he answered questions from students, the academic community and the media.
He mentioned the examples of the president of the Democratic Action Party, Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union, Dragan Covic, and Milorad Dodik, the president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats.
“The wife of the president of the SDA was recently dismissed from the position of director of the University Clinical Center in Sarajevo, one of the largest hospitals in the country. During her tenure, doctors were pressured to support the SDA or were removed from their leadership positions. The SDA also participated in the notorious respirators case, and when they were in power, SDA leaders exploited BH Telecom for personal gain and to strengthen their own support networks,” he said.
O’Brien also said that in the energy sector, HDZ BiH leader Dragan Covic is blocking the Southern Interconnection, the natural gas pipeline to Croatia.
He also referred to the contracts of members of the family of the President of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik.
“Milorad Dodik and his SNSD have been directing contracts to his family members and friends for years. After taking office, Mr. Dodik himself allocated funds in the amount of 56.5 million BAM ($28.7 million) for the office of the President of the RS, which is an increase of more than 400 percent compared to the previous year.”
“The Dayton Constitution of BiH is not a problem, the politicians represent the problem“
“The Dayton Peace Agreement and the Constitution of BiH as part of it are not the problem, the problem are the political leaders of this country,” said O’Brien about the 1995 peace agreement that stopped the war in BiH, Slobodna Evropa writes.
E.Dz.
