President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik met today in East Sarajevo with European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi.
After the meeting, Dodik emphasized that it was important for him to tell Commissioner Varhelyi that he found it strange that Bosnia and Herzegovina has candidate status, and that at the same time there is a “fake high representative who has no power and who pretends to be someone who is not”.
“We also have judges of the Constitutional Court who are foreigners, but the most important for them right now is that BiH gets candidate status,” said Dodik.
He pointed out that he discussed with Varhelyi all the reforms that need to be implemented, among others, the need to adopt a strategy on migration and asylum management, setting up a contact point for cooperation with Europol, as well as other important issues.
In his statement to the media, he referred to the formation of the state government and emphasized that he is interested in getting a minister of foreign affairs.
“Until now, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has been from the Bosniak people, and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers is from the Croat people, so one of the important portfolios should belong to us. If everything is in a good atmosphere, I don’t think there will be any problems,” said Dodik.
He also said that he was informed about the details of the agreement that the coalition of eight political parties and HDZ BiH signed today, and he hopes for future cooperation at the state level with these partners. He points out that the SNSD did not talk to the Eight, but that they will try to talk about the European path and the unblocking of projects “even though the Eight and the opposition in the RS are obviously talking”.
