Political turbulence, sanctions, Bonn powers, closed-door meetings, actions and reactions – Dragan Markovina, historian and publicist, commented and analyzed all this.
He sees, he says, no reason for Milorad Dodik’s security to be endangered – it’s all political PR.
This historian and publicist recalls that Christian Schmidt and Milorad Dodik visited Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade last week. Regardless of the fact that they gave conflicting information about what they talked about – it is indicative that the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was hosted in Belgrade by a man who has all the power in the country, even though Russia and Republika Srpska (RS) claim that he has no legitimacy, and Vucic says that he is against the Bonn powers. They can claim this and that, but the fact is that the President of Serbia met with the High Representative. This makes it clear that some new winds are blowing. I think that the European Union (EU) has finally decided to regulate the Western Balkans and in some way give a real opportunity to open a European perspective. Whether this will happen or not – we cannot know, but these are all indications that this decision has been made. In that situation, Dodik’s dissolution of the state can no longer be allowed.”, Federalna writes.
Speaking about the latest sanctions by the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (U.S.), he reminds that Dodik has been under them so far. Markovina emphasized that it is clear that this is a kind of additional pressure, but it is much more important how the EU will act – they, however, realized that it is time to dedicate themselves to this area: “During the period when they weren’t committed, hotspots have opened in BiH and Montenegro and in Kosovo as well, and now is the time to act with one fence, in the hope that Emmanuel Macron will win the elections in France. “
Markovina talked about the HDZ’s silence when it comes to all the recent moves by the international community. According to him, the HDZ is in an unenviable position. He says that, just like Aleksandar Vucic has privatized state functions in Serbia, Dragan Covic has privatized political life among Croats in BiH, with the exception of those who do not vote for national parties and do not care about that: “The fact is that he is in partnership with Dodik, and in fact in partnership with Russia. He has recently had some support from Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, but it is also clear that the president of the Republic of Croatia does not have any real powers, but the Prime Minister does. We now have a situation where Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic – who is an authentic man of the EU and who could possibly continue his career in Brussels – told Covic to abandon the coalition with Russia and Dodik, and I am not sure he is ready for that, but he sees that circumstances have changed and he must not appear in public as before. He is in an awkward position and the HDZ does not know what to do – and when I say HDZ, I mean Dragan Covic. “
Also, Markovina spoke about how sanctions affect investors: ”Let’s not lie, we are an economic colony of Western banks and companies. There is very little domestic capital and domestic investment here. The most important investment in BiH is Corridor Vc – and it is done with EU money, it is no secret. I clearly doubt this kind of political pressure on RS and that European capital will endanger its own positions in the country where it leads, in fact, most of the economy.”
E.Dz.
