After a three-day working visit to our country, Member of the European Parliament Tineke Strik said that it is clear that “Bosnia and Herzegovina is being held in a tight grip by an ethno-nationalistically corrupt elite whose only interest is to preserve its own power”.
“The country is facing a deep security crisis due to the continued illegal activities of Milorad Dodik”, Strik stressed and added that this is the conclusion she takes home.
Strik visited BiH in the context of an AFET fact-finding mission, organized by the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ondrej Kolar.
During the mission, the delegation visited Sarajevo and Banja Luka, where it spoke with representatives of the authorities, the OHR, civil society, political parties, diplomatic missions and other stakeholders, in order to collect contributions for the European Parliament’s Annual Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Strik believes that the situation risks turning into a rule of law crisis if Dodik is not arrested soon. It is crucial, she stressed, that EUFOR be ready to protect SIPA in the event of Dodik’s arrest.
“This should be an operational decision, because it is clearly within the EUFOR mandate. The policy of reconciliation that brought us here should be closed forever. It is clear that the country is held in a tight grip by an ethno-nationalistically corrupt elite whose only interest is to preserve its own power,” the MEP said.
She added that a strong and clear role for the EU is therefore needed to promote the interests of citizens and ensure the full and uncompromising implementation of all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
“The international community, including the EU, should increase financial and political support for civil society and journalists, who are facing extreme pressure as the first defenders of democracy in BiH. This is the only path that leads us to true democracy and the EU path that citizens so desire,” Strik concluded.
The political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina followed in late February when the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced the President of the Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik, to a year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office of entity president for failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina subsequently issued an arrest warrant for Dodik, as well as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska, Radovan Višković, and the President of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska, Nenad Stevandić. They are suspected of the criminal offense of “attacking the constitutional order” after the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska adopted, and Dodik signed, a decree promulgating laws prohibiting the operation of state judicial and security institutions in that Bosnian entity, AA writes.
