Bosnia and Herzegovina did not take full advantage of the initiative for accelerated European integration of the countries of the Western Balkans provided by the European Union. High Representative Christian Schmidt made the assessment in the regular report he submits to the United Nations Security Council today. According to the report confirmed by the OHR, Schmidt criticized the Republika Srpska authorities for undermining the state and its institutions, and spoke about the results of measures to preserve integrity through changes to the Election Law that he introduced by his decision. At the same time, the Government of Republika Srpska sent a parallel report to the UN headquarters.
He called the failure of the politics of ethnicity the failure of domestic actors to agree on the conditions for participation in the European Union’s Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. Schmidt stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country that does not participate in the Growth Plan, but also that the European commitment of the government is expressed, which is a key factor for progress. He delegated the responsibility for undermining the state and undermining the authority of its institutions to the authorities of Republika Srpska.
“I don’t want to say anything that will contribute to further polarization in the sense that now Schmidt is against the RS, so the RS needs to respond, etc., I will leave that to them. But it is very important to isolate those who are guilty and responsible for the stagnation of BiH, above all on the European path,” says the president of Our party, Edin Forto.
Those ruling in Banja Luka reject the claims of the high representative, saying that Schmidt is not a legitimately elected high representative for them. They are ready, they say, for an agreement in accordance with the constitutional structure of the country.
“But always under this form of progress towards the EU, some interests of the Bosniak majority in BiH try to sneak in. In a way to try to weaken the institutions of the RS, to mask all this with some kind of European process. So, we in the EU itself have countries where this type of organization exists.” , says Srđan Todorović from the Socialist Party of the RS.
The High Representative points to the positive reactions of citizens and the civil sector to the introduction of new technologies aimed at protecting the integrity of the electoral process. The local elections were peaceful, he said, and the ban on the use of hate speech brought results, as did the ban on the candidacy of those convicted of war crimes. In a parallel report to the UN sent by the Government of Republika Srpska, the high representative is disputed, and his powers are called dictatorial.
“Schmidt’s rule undermines the rule of law in BiH, with an obvious violation of the constitutional order of BiH, which mandates that laws be passed in a special democratic procedure. No one – not even a high representative who would be legitimate – has the right to pass laws in BiH by means of a decision”, stated is in the report of the RS Government to the UN Security Council.
“It is clear who blocked the changes to the Election Law, it was the SNSD, and it is clear that again the SNSD respected the decision of the high representative to leave under those conditions, and it is clear that it suits them, no matter how much we ‘struggle’ with the Election Law RS, we all know that it was just a farce for the most naive,” says Đorđe Vučinić from the Movement for Justice and Order.
The High Representative underlined that there is no progress in the implementation of several judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in cases that require changes to the Constitution. He also mentioned HDZ’s ultimatum in connection with constitutional and changes to the Election Law by defining legitimate representation.
“First of all, I believe that the integrity of the electoral process is both in legitimate representation and in legal representation, so that is the integrity of the electoral process. I think that the time has passed for high representatives. If we aspire to the EU, a high representative is in some way a negation of the sovereignty of BiH”, believes Marinko Čavara from HDZ BiH.
While domestic actors are increasingly vocal in their assessment that the institution of the High Representative is becoming redundant, Schmidt points out in his report to the Security Council that no progress has been made in fulfilling Agenda 5+2 for the closure of the OHR.
