Croatia is the only country in the world whose officials refuse meetings with the collective Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) because they do not want to legitimize the election of Zeljko Komsic. This did not bother Denis Becirovic to independently go on an official visit to Pantovcak in a format that fits into the narrative created by Croatian politics.
Before Becirovic, the Chairwoman of the BiH Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic had an official meeting in Zagreb with Croatian President Zoran Milanovic.
By organizing separate meetings with the members of the Presidency of BiH, Milanovic, first of all, wanted to show that they actually represent the people of BiH, that is, that they were elected by the will of the people, not the citizens of our country.
Additionally, in Zagreb’s perception where members of the Presidency represent nations, by refusing to meet with the BiH Presidency in full format, and with the individual arrival of Cvijanovic and Becirovic, the President of Croatia sent a symbolic message that Komsic has no legitimacy.
In this regard, in order to devalue Komsic’s electoral legitimacy, Milanovic had to bring down Becirovic’s visit to an ethnic one and reduce it to a civil one.
It’s not all about symbolism. Milanovic directly at the press conference, took advantage of the moment when Milorad Dodik was being talked about, and in his desire to humiliate Komsic, characterized Becirovic as a representative of the people.
“Who should be the interlocutor if not someone who is a legitimate representative of the people, which is one of the three constituent peoples in BiH? Even if I didn’t know Mr. Becirovic, I would formally and legally treat him as a representative of the people who elected him as a member of the Presidency by majority vote. This is not a stain, it is simply an empty fact. There should be no passion about it,” Milanovic stated.
To the member of the BiH Presidency and the vice-president of the strongest civil party in BiH, Milanovic continued, as a good host, to share lessons about the legitimacy, legality, and role of Komsic, the Constitution of BiH and, almost unbelievably, the legitimacy of Becirovic himself.
True, Becirovic replied that the BiH Constitution says the opposite of what the President of Croatia claims, but by agreeing to the format in which the members of the Presidency come individually for an official visit to Zagreb, he symbolically degraded both himself and the role and significance of the Presidency.
Moreover, Becirovic justified his agreement to such a format of the meeting by saying that “dialogue has no alternative” and that the problem between the two countries cannot be resolved “if we do not talk”.
And yes, dialogue has no alternative, but if the dialogue has no alternative, why did the presidents of Croatia not agree to meet with the collective Presidency of BiH for years, nor do they agree now?, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
