The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said that his party representatives would support the dismissal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, if proposed, without specifying who should propose it. Thus, the political crisis is prolonging and deepening day by day. And so far we have had many: from blocking the process due to political trade, to the latest violation of the country’s constitutional order. This is precisely the reason why we have gone from a country that was at the forefront of the European path to now far behind everyone.
The current political situation, along with institutional blockages that hinder the implementation of necessary reforms, could further slow down Bosnia and Herzegovina’s already sluggish European path.
“If we do not fulfill our obligations regarding these two laws that still need to go through procedures and the selection of a chief negotiator, I am afraid that the story of the European Union could end permanently at a time when Bosnia and Herzegovina has a great opportunity,” said BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković.
The new majority, which would supposedly have a consensus on European laws, is still being negotiated. In the meantime, some European countries are imposing sanctions on the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, the leader of a party without which laws still cannot pass parliamentary procedures. It is high time, warn EU ministers who have been in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent days, to act against the blockades.
“Over the past three years, the country has been waiting for something to happen and it is really high time to act against these blockades. Many countries in the region are making progress, Montenegro, we are starting negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova and that is precisely why this is the moment when we need to see progress in Bosnia and Herzegovina because there is a certain dynamic,” said Anna Luhrmann, Minister for Europe and Climate of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The political crises that are only following each other inevitably reflect on the European path. What is visible to the naked eye is that the doors of the European Union are ajar but we are closing them to ourselves.
“BiH’s European path is directly linked to the crisis because in a situation where you have such a political and security crisis, an institutional one instead of a European path, with numerous chapters that need to be prepared in negotiations with the EU, the adoption of new laws, we see that institutions are paralyzed, they are not functioning,” says Zijad Bećirović, director of the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies.
Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the only country in the region that has not yet adopted a reform agenda, which is why more than a billion euros of European funds from the Growth Plan are under question.
“We have actually seen that since obtaining candidate status, the few laws that have been adopted have been adopted with muscle and with wholehearted support from Brussels. However, it seems to me that this current situation comes to political actors as an alibi and an excuse because they are really not truly interested in Bosnia and Herzegovina becoming a member of the EU,” believes political analyst Tanja Topić.
“We are the only country in the Western Balkans that no longer draws funds from the European Union. We do not participate in their distribution, we do not participate in any serious talks about joining the EU. Instead of using this opportunity and showing now that we are more 100% ready for the EU than we have been so far, in order to get into that last carriage of that last train towards the EU,” says analyst Almir Terzić.
Whether Bosnia and Herzegovina will finally resolutely enter perhaps the last train towards the EU depends on us. But not on the citizens, who, according to numerous surveys, the vast majority see their future and want it in the EU, but on the will and desire of politicians to get us there, BHRT writes.
