BiH’s candidate status in the EU was a political decision, negotiations have not started and there are a lot of legislative changes, but we believe that they will bring positive changes, people are afraid of war after the Ukrainian invasion and consider this a guarantee for security, said High Representative Christian Schmidt in an address before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the British House of Commons.
Schmidt briefed the members of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on the political events of the past year and thanked the Committee for last year’s visit.
He mentioned the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that they were held “relatively safely and fairly and that there was an agreement on the coalition platform”.
He noted that progress had been made, “given that RS blocked political processes last year.”
The manner in which the marking of January 9 was held this year, which focused on the demonstration of Serb identity, mustn’t be held in the same way next year. Republika Srpska is a multi-ethnic entity, and the marking of January 9 refers to the date associated with the convicted war criminal Radovan Karadžić, said High Representative Christian Schmidt at the questioning of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the British House of Commons.
Asked by Committee Chair Alicia Kearns whether the individuals who organized the event would be held accountable and whether the High Representative would use his Bonn powers to prevent it, Schmidt said that option was not out of the question.
– Someday I would like to be like Paddy Ashdown. He had a different environment. Such an environment had a greater presence of SFOR and international police forces. The option of using Bonn powers to sanction individuals is not excluded. I want to thank the UK government for the sanctions. Republika Srpska is financially conditioned and needs financial assistance.
On behalf of the Committee, Kearns expressed the need to remove officials who organize events of this kind “so close to Sarajevo” and asked Schmidt about the intensity of Russian influence in the country.
– According to the information I have, Russia’s influence is not so great. We have seen that this influence is much greater in Serbia, since it has been proven that the Wagner group is trying to recruit fighters for the war in Ukraine. We have not seen any influence of this group in BiH, but there is a possibility that Russia is preparing the ground for increasing its influence in this country – he said.
Kearns expressed concern about the appearance of members of the Night Wolves Motorcycle Club on the streets of Republika Srpska, as well as the recent awarding of Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing out that there is no doubt that Milorad Dodik is “Putin’s puppet”.
Schmidt said that the fight against Russian influence requires the cooperation of local politicians, as well as the support of Great Britain, the EU, and the USA.
– I share your concern and we are working on it – he said.
Asked about how much influence neighboring countries Serbia and Croatia have on the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Schmidt said that there is too much influence.
– This is especially evident with the recent comments of Croatian President Zoran Milanović on the conditionality of the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO if an election law is passed in Bosnia and Herzegovina – noted Schmidt.
When asked whether he will return the Order of Ante Starčević, which Croatia previously awarded to two convicted war criminals Dario Kordić and Jadranko Prlić, Schmidt said that it happened a long time ago and that he did not accept it while he was a member of the German parliament.
