After, according to many, a passing visit to Sarajevo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban went on an almost two-day visit to Banja Luka. He never supported Milorad Dodik’s policy more directly than during this visit. He criticized the imposition of the electoral law, the policy of sanctions, and advocated the right of Republika Srpska (RS) to property. While Orban was having a pleasant time in Banja Luka, European criticism is coming from Sarajevo that Hungary was a Trojan horse of the Union.
Special forces, helicopters, Vihor, but also citizens… Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was welcomed on the red carpet in front of the Palace. Dear friend, as he is called, is meeting with the President of RS Milorad Dodik for the eighth time.
On the occasion of the Day of the RS, the President of the RS issued a decree on the awarding of decorations. Viktor Orban received the greatest decoration of RS on a necklace, thereby indirectly sending a message about what he thinks about the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). He also sent a message to Europe because of, as he says, the injustice to the Serbs:
“Without Serbs, there is no stability, without Serbs, there is no healthy European Union (EU),” said Orban.
But the loudest message went to the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and its head. Along with the Hungarian: “Go home”, it was also said that “the imposition of the electoral law is a provocation”.
“When decisions are made to amend the electoral law, it leads to the collapse of all the results we have achieved in the EU. Suddenly, this one provocative decision calls it all into question. One country must not be destabilized for some external interests. Everyone can go home, leave this country, and have people within BiH agree on what is important to them for the future,” said the Hungarian Prime Minister.
Orban also adds that RS has the right to property, and that Europe should recognize Dodik for his work:
“If decentralization touches state property, it is a very big problem, if a community’s property is taken away, it leads to big problems, it must not be done, it is a complete destabilization because it destroys everything you have managed to achieve. I am a guest of a constructive host, a constructive guest in a constructive country,” says Orban.
The host, who approved and expected these words:
“They want to seize the property of the RS, the RS will not and must not allow it to lose its property. If that decision is reached, I want to tell you very publicly that the RS will immediately make a decision on its independent status,” said Dodik.
There weren’t too many reactions from Sarajevo to Orban’s messages in Banja Luka. From the capital city, where, according to critics, Orban only stopped by on the way, one reaction resounded, and that is the reaction of a member of the European Parliament, Tineke Strik, that Orban is a Trojan horse.
“He is a Trojan horse in the EU. He slows down the EU and blocks it on its way to introduce sanctions against Russia and Dodik,” said Strik.
This did not prevent the Hungarian foreign minister from repeating his opposition to the sanctions. And as part of the political visit, there was also an Economic Forum. The governments of the RS and Hungary have agreed, it was announced, on three projects worth 140 million euros.
The announcement of cooperation on the exploitation of mineral resources also remained in the shadow of politics.
Hungary took off the gloves. Viktor Orban has never supported Milorad Dodik’s policy more clearly than during this visit. All of this is happening at a delicate moment when Milorad Dodik is under the pressure of American sanctions, but also because of the trial before the Court of BiH for disobeying the decisions of the High Representative, whose legitimacy Dodik denies, N1 writes.
