European Union (EU) policy in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) – in fact in the wider Western Balkans – has been on a declining path since it took over the reins a decade and a half ago.
Now, in cooperation with the United States (U.S.) and Great Britain, it is trying to camouflage this failure by calming the separatists in our country, while at the same time giving free geopolitical victory to Russia’s opponent, “ Bodo Weber and Valery Perry wrote for EUobserver.com.
Two analysts explained that this would “in fact mean agreeing with the country’s nationalist leaders on an accelerated path towards ethno-territorial disintegration of the state – which would not be peaceful”.
This was the mission that Angelina Eichhorst, director-general of the EU‘s diplomatic service for Europe, brought to Sarajevo last week, angering pro-European and pro-American BiH citizens and policymakers: teaming up with U.S. envoy Matthew Palmer and squeezing major Bosniak and non-nationalist parties opposition, to accept an agreement on the so-called reform of the election law that would legally and institutionally deepen the ethno-territorial division of BiH.
The latest escalation appeared in the last six months after EU and U.S. diplomats on the ground in BiH, backed by middle-ranking officials in Washington and Brussels, created cross-party talks on electoral reform and so-called “limited constitutional reform”.
These talks took the form of a de facto agreement to meet the unfulfilled nationalist agendas of political leaders, most notably Dragan Covic, head of the HDZ BiH, the main Bosnian Croat party, which wants to maintain its primacy among Bosnian Croat voters.
The former EU High Representative (HR) in BiH, Valentin Inzko, after pressure from the EU and the U.S. to support the agreement they mediated, on the last day of his work, imposed a law against genocide denial and glorification of war crimes and criminals; a completely personal and morally understandable move, but without any strategic framework or support.
It looks like France, the U.S. , and the United Kingdom are on track to convey a message of reduced support for the HR to prevent a Russian (and potentially Chinese) EUFOR veto that was scheduled for Wednesday (November 3rd) at the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
The EU capitals, especially Berlin and Paris, must finally take an interest in the situation and face the transactionalism of the European Foreign Affairs policy, replacing it with a strategic policy.
EUFOR should be stepped up in Brcko, and the international community should refrain from false urgency in reforming BiHelection law, instead of focusing closely on improving electoral integrity.
E.Dz.
Source: N1
