”There is a political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) that threatens to escalate the situation, ” it was written yesterday on Twitter by the Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from the group of Greens (Netherlands) Tineke Strik, who is on an official visit to BiH.
MEPs Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, The Netherlands) and Dietmar Köster (S&D, Germany) are on a two-day visit to BiH, where they intend to hold talks with different political actors in BiH in light of recent events and the current political crisis.
Strik pointed out that the European Union (EU) should be stricter when it comes to the provocations of the member of the Presidency of BiH, Milorad Dodik, and not reward him, which is why she clearly called for financial sanctions against Dodik in order to protect the integrity of BiH.
”The EU and the United States (U.S.) are now negotiating an agreement in which they seem to give in to some demands from Dodik and Croatian representatives to calm the situation. There is a great risk that the compromise will strengthen the ethnic divisions in the country and only worsen the political crisis, ” Strick believes.
Further, she wrote that she had a very successful but worrying meeting yesterday with representatives of NGOs and activists in BiH who shared the concerns. She fully supported their call for increased participation in vital ongoing discussions on the country’s future.
After the meeting with MEPs, the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Johann Sattler wrote on Twitter that it was nice to see the strong commitment and engagement of MEPs in shaping the response to the current crisis in BiH and emphasized that de-escalation must be the first step.
As representatives of their political groups for BiH in the European Parliament, MEPs Köster and Strik will talk during the visit to BiH with various officials, including the High Representative in BiH Christian Schmidt, representatives of the Central Election Commission (CEC), representatives of different political parties, including the opposition, as well as representatives of the civil society and NGOs.
E.Dz.
Source: Federalna
