With the end of the Brussels negotiations and Dodik’s acceptance of the agreement, the relationship between the Republika Srpska (RS) authorities and the opposition in the entity has further deteriorated, with conflicting messages from both sides.
PDP President Branislav Borenovic took part in the negotiations, but in the end, did not accept the conclusions on which the majority agreed. On the other hand, the president of the SDS refused to participate at all, which in itself, given that it is the same bloc, raises many questions. According to Borenovic, during the meeting, Dodik cursed the PDP president, and it seems that the relationship between the two blocs in RS has reached the point of shooting.
On the occasion of the latest events, analyst Tanja Topic told that by going to Brussels, Dodik wanted to show that he is a politician who is respected by European officials and whose word is respected.
She believes that by agreeing to the agreement, he showed cooperation and readiness to cooperate, which is not a big effort, considering that the document is not binding.
In the context of the tactics of the opposition parties, she toldthat it was strange that Sarovic stayed in BiH, just as Dragan Covic stayed in a hotel room in Brussels, which is, to put it mildly, indecent in the diplomatic world.
Also, she added that the rhetoric of the opposition is directed primarily towards criticism of the ruling party and their behavior, and the document seeks points of contention regarding those things that unmask the ruling party as unreliable and inconsistent.
Asked how the RS opposition had coped with the last three months of Russian aggression against Ukraine and significant pressure from Dodik, she said the SNSD president had turned the situation in their favor.
“The opposition itself is waging difficult internal battles. I think the opposition gave Dodik a lifeline and supported him at a time when he was literally pressed against the wall. Then he took a deep breath and turned the situation in his favor. Pro-Russian rhetoric and behavior are further in his favor. He raised subjects who almost 100% support Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and nurture pro-Russian sentiment. “
Topic believes that the space for using the situation for the opposition is significantly narrowed.
“Only Igor Crnadak made a step forward in the ideological sense, saying that Serbia condemned Russia’s aggression and that RS should do the same. The opposition is in constant fear of prejudices and persistently wants to overpower Dodik on his ethnonational field, which is a lost battle. Western pressure on Dodik is overwhelmed by the noise of support for Russia. Dodik won that battle in the local public. Everything else was forgiven and forgotten,” noted Topic.
She thinks that Dodik has temporarily given up on the goals he insisted on before the war in Ukraine, but that he will not realize those plans during his political life.
“This does not mean that he has completely given up on it. It is the tension that he constantly maintains in the saddle of power. We often hear changes in his attitudes and demands such as the fight for an independent RS and two Serbian states, and then he assures us that he never even thought about secession, and then it is out of the question to increase the number of EUFOR troops, so in an hour he calls for their strengthening. He is loud when he says that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a dysfunctional state, which cannot survive to say only to shortly afterward say that he is the only one defending the BiH Constitution, the same state that he does not recognize. In the next moment, he calls for a peaceful separation, which hepresents as a realistic option, and so on... The question of a million dollars is which Dodik should we trust!,” concluded Topic, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
