Haris Silajdzic, a longtime prominent politician thinks that without the Office of the High Representative (OHR), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) would still lag in the status quo, in favor of the separatists.
He said this in his statement, commenting on the proposal for a resolution of Russia and China in the United Nations (UN) Security Council, which implies the closure of the OHR. He was surprised by China’s position.
“As for the proposed resolution on the status of High Representative, I am a little surprised by the position of Chinese diplomacy, given that Chinese policy has officially marked separatism as one of the three great evils in the world. It is obvious that in the best-case scenario, without the High Representative, BiH would still lag and remain in the status quo, which is in favor of the separatist policy that has been publicly and continuously proclaimed in one part of BiH, ” stated Silajdzic.
Then, he explained the possible reason why China agreed to propose a resolution.
“I am trying to understand China’s position in the context of the complex geopolitical coordination between China and Russia, since the outlines are becoming clearer, especially after the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan. This means occasional diplomatic favors and counter-services on the global stage, especially in UN bodies, but at the same time, it points to the possibility of creating a trend that could be to the detriment of BiH. The task of BiH diplomacy is to do everything possible to prevent such a development, ” Haris Silajdzic concluded.
Seven conditions for closing the OHR
To recall, the Political Directors of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) Steering Board, at their meetings on February 26th and 27th, 2008, set out seven conditions that BiH must meet in order for the OHR to close. We note that the members of the Steering Board are the United States (U.S.), Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, the Presidency of the European Union (EU), the European Commission, and the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) represented by Turkey.
BiH then had the following conditions for closing the OHR:
• An acceptable and sustainable solution to the issue of the distribution of property between the state and other levels of government;
• An acceptable and sustainable solution for the military property;
• Full implementation of the Final Decision for Brcko;• Fiscal sustainability (promoted by the Agreement on establishing a permanent methodology for determining the coefficients for the distribution of funds of the Indirect Taxation Authority and the establishment of the National Fiscal Council);
• Reviving the rule of law (demonstrated by the adoption of the National Strategy for War Crimes, the adoption of the Law on Foreigners and Asylum, as well as the adoption of the National Strategy for the Reform of the Judicial Sector);
• Signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA);• Positive assessment of the situation in BiH by the PIC based on full compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
