The High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)Christian Schmidt spoke in an interview with the German Tageszeitung (Taz) about the most current events in BiH and suggested that Dodik sign a declaration of loyalty to BiH.
The journalist started the conversation with a question about celebrating the unconstitutional January 9th.
He stated that less than 1,000 people attended the celebrationand asked how seriously the secession threats of Milorad Dodik, president of the BiH entity of Republika Srpska (RS) should be taken.
“I see that he is still preparing for autonomy in the legal system, including the right to vote,” Schmidt told Taz.
He recalled that Dodik pushed through the law on non-governmental organizations and the law against freedom of expression at the entity level.
“All this culminates in an attack on the existing institutions in the country as a whole, on the Constitutional Court, and even on the institution of the high representative. I also see that the European Union (EU) is aware of this. If negotiations with the EU are opened in March, then it must be connected with Milorad Dodik’s declaration of loyalty to the state of BiH,” said Schmidt.
He also said what will happen if Dodik refuses to sign the aforementioned declaration.
Everyone now wants negotiations, and he emphasized that recently. This means that if the EU sets conditions, then they must be fulfilled. Especially when it comes to topics such as the functionality of the Constitutional Court,” said Schmidt.
He emphasized that there are topics that cannot be negotiated.
“This includes the Constitutional Court, the functionality of the state, including foreign policy, acceptance of earlier regulations,” he said.
When asked about changes to the BiH Election Law, he emphasized that the integrity of the elections must be ensured and that voter fraud must be prevented.
“There is no trust among voters, there is great skepticism, we must set an example. Voting rights have been talked about for 15 years, the Council of Europe and the OSCE tried, but nothing happened. We are interested in the political system reflecting true opinions. Voters must be registered and their votes to which they have the right must be counted safely. We cannot delay this any longer. Electoral boards must also be clean, fake parties that were founded just to be represented in the electoral board must no longer exist,” stressed Schmidt.
He said that laws must be enforced and that the rule of law and cooperation with the EU are at the top.
“I also believe that the judgments of the European Court of Justice, such as the one of Sejdic-Finci and other judgments on the necessary constitutional changes in BiH, must be respected,” concluded Schmidt.
