Congressmen Thomas Garrett, Joe Barton and Scott Perry urged the State Department to note that “the United States must re-take a leading role in BiH” in a letter they sent to US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Wess Mitchell.
Congressmen noted that failure in resolving changes to the Election Law of BiH could lead to political instability and further interference of bad players in BiH and the Balkans region.
“First of all, I am concerned about the maintenance of peace, stability and democracy in the state of BiH. This issue is referring to the rule of law and the implementation of court decisions by the Constitutional Court of BiH and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. BiH must have a government that respects the rule of law in order to join the EU and NATO, which I really hope that it will be able to achieve. To be more exact, I am afraid that there might be a vacuum if BiH does not react and if the US and Europe do not demand a solution for this obstacle. I am thinking here about Russia, Turkey and radical Islamists, who have considerably increase their influence in BiH. Russia is already heavily arming Serbs, and radical Islamists have an anchor in BiH. Without a proper solution, the fear of violence and chaos is not far away, and American allies in NATO are not ready for it,” stated Congressman Garrett.
He noted that a stable and democratic BiH is in the interest of America, and both the Congress and the State Department should continue working with the people of BiH.
“The future of BiH is in the EU and NATO, and in case that it resolves problems that refer to the Election Law and implements the decisions by the Constitutional Court, it will be an indication that the country is seriously considering reforms,” stated Garrett.
(Source: fokus.ba)
