Sanctioned Milorad Dodik, former president of Republika Srpska (RS), has decided once again to block the European Union (EU) path of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), after RS, because of his secessionist and destructive policy, was left without 600 million euros intended for infrastructure projects.
The EU was only a declarative direction that served as a kind of ATM for the authorities of the RS. At the same time, anti-European rhetoric intensified, which he hopes will more broadly open doors to right-wingers and autocrats whose path he is following.
So Dodik’s focus is on Trump’s administration, from which he hopes for money, but not sanctions. After hundreds of millions of BAM invested in lobbying in the United States (U.S.), suddenly, the West, but in Washington, is a desirable address.
“Having in mind the fact that we are surrounded by Europe, in a way, to make yourself into an even deeper black hole within the European continent by defying all of Europe, hoping that the U.S. will somehow save you politically, is a wrong move, despite the fact that Europe does not show any particular ability to resolve crises even now without the U.S. The awareness that one cannot rely on the U.S. will slowly grow, and then precisely those actors who are focused on gaining the attention of Trump’s administration in any way will become even more deeply isolated within the EU itself,” says Sead Turcalo, dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo.
