“Silent” sanctions and the reduction of economic aid to Republika Srpska (RS) are the mechanisms by which the European Union (EU) can put pressure on Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) entity, assess analysts in a conversation with Radio Free Europe (RSE).
However, they add that the citizens of RS will suffer the most due to the use of these mechanisms.
United States (U.S.) Secretary of State Antony Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a press conference on September 15th that it is necessary to maintain pressure on those who “expose BiH to great risk”, apostrophizing the name of Milorad Dodik.
The EU delegation in BiH did not respond to Radio Free Europe’s inquiry about the mechanisms available to the Union but redirected them to the EU spokesperson for neighborhood and enlargement. The answer did not appear until the conclusion of this text.
Dodik has already been under sanctions from the U.S. and Great Britain, but not the EU, because Hungary is against it. At the EU level, a consensus of all 27 members is required to impose sanctions on someone.
The European Parliament has repeatedly requested the introduction of sanctions against the President of the RS, but the European Commission has not yet responded to these requests. The EU has no obligation to comply with the request of the Parliament.
Previous measures against the RS
Back in 2011, the EU established the so-called sanctions framework for BiH, which allows it to introduce restrictive measures against persons who threaten the security of BiH and undermine the Dayton Agreement.
It is an empty list to which names can be added as needed, and there is still not a single name on it.
At the end of June, the EU approved 298 million euros in grants for projects in the Federation of BiH (FBiH), while eight projects to restore the water supply and sewerage network in the RS did not receive the green light from the European Commission.
Then the EU Delegation in BiH said that the projects from the RS did not meet the necessary criteria.
‘Less and less international aid enters the RS’
EU mechanisms are very flexible, but their application is slow, told Aleksandar Trifunovic, editor of the “Buka” portal from Banja Luka.
“Currently, the EU in BiH and its activities speak of a practically complete impotence and disinterest, first of all, because all EU members must jointly make any decision concerning BiH”, Trifunovic believes.
He points out that Hungary specifically said that it supports Milorad Dodik as someone who was elected by the citizens, and that there are other countries besides them that do not want to interfere, they just don’t say so publicly.
Trifunovic warns that “less and less international aid is coming into the RS”, and that with the adoption of new laws, such as the announced law on “foreign agents”, aid for the civilian sector from abroad will also stop.
“There is less and less of that aid, we are no longer in focus, now it is Ukraine. BiH has not been in focus for a long time, and especially now it isn’t,” Trifunovic pointed out, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
E.Dz.
