When it comes to local elections, a lot of time and energy have been spent on things that have nothing to do with local communities, conditions in the municipalities, stated the Head of EU Delegation in BiH Lars-Gunnar Wigemark.
“I think that it is all about disappointment. Of course, I did not vote, but I noticed the lack of discussion and dealing with problems that are important for the citizens, primarily economy, workplaces, health protection and health sector reforms, education, safety in those local communities,” Wigemark said.
Instead, Wigemark says, the campaign was dominated by the debate over the referendum and reactions to it.
“With due respect, I think this is taking advantage of the situation; talking about issues that may be important, but that have little or no importance for local elections. It is important to emphasize that we should go back to the basics. A little over a year ago, when the Reform Agenda was just adopted, I was told that the deadline for implementation of the reforms in spring 2016. I think a lot of work has been done, at least in the legislative part, but I am completely aware of the fact that many people are waiting to see that improvement in everyday life, to see those workplaces. We have witnessed the achievement of important agreements such as the one with the IMF, the European Union believes that significant progress has been made in terms of implementation of the Reform Agenda, but it is very important to keep working on the reforms,” Wigemark said.
Commenting on announcements by Milorad Dodik regarding the new referendum, the one on secession prior to the coming general elections in BiH, Wigemark said that a referendum on secession is not acceptable.
“The EU was very clear regarding that and I think we all know that, including the people in Banja Luka and everywhere else. Any questions that the RS might have that are pertinent to the Constitution, status, constituent nations and those who do not consider themselves any of them, should be solved in an adequate forum. Some of these issues will appear during the process of accession to the EU. We cannot solve all those issues at once, but one at the time, I patience is necessary. However, there are other issues behind the issue of the referendum, the ones that have nothing to do with it, and they refer to the life of different nations under one roof. We only recognize one country, one state. We know that there are different viewpoints, but coexistence must be nourished; conditions for coexistence must exist and I think that majority of people here want to live together. A lot of irresponsible discussion has been led about the war, the next conflict and the like, which had a lot to do with the local elections, but now it is time to move away from that rhetoric,” said Wigemark.
(Source: fokus.ba)
