Edin Forto, Minister of Communications and Traffic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and president of Our party, said that with this speed of law adoption and the implementation of 14 European priorities, “we will never” have the opportunity to open negotiations with the European Union (EU), but if this will lead “BiH and our administration to a situation where we open chapter by chapter and begin to act systematically, then it will become a habit to do so and have some rhythm”.
In yesterday’s interview, the Minister commented on the situation with public services in the country, as well as the deadline of High Representative Christian Schmidt for changes to the BiH Election Law.
Interview question: “There is still no agreement on financing the public service of BiH. What happened at the meeting today?”
“I think that there should have been more understanding today. It seems to me that the director of the Radio Television of BiH (BHRT) was ready for some kind of compromise, but we encountered very firm stances from the Federal Television (FTV), from the director who claimed that he could only do it the way it was and not any other way. We gave them a little more time to think about the ideas we presented as the “Coalition of the Three”. We have two issues to solve – the way to collect subscriptions and the problem of paying workers’ salaries,” he said yesterday.
Interview question: “Could it happen that BiH is left without telephone and internet connections due to problems in BHRT?”
“I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Interview question: “High Representative Schmidt has given a deadline for the parties to come to an agreement, and if nothing comes of it, he says he will impose changes to the Election Law. Will you be able to come to an agreement?”
“I can’t predict what will happen. When we talk, the electoral law is viewed through three dimensions. The first is the integrity package, which is a rather non-political issue, but everything is politics with us. We should not give up and I would not be surprised if, in the coming period, we try to make some technical changes, to do it as a government because time is running out. There is another dimension, which is the method of selecting members of the Central Election Commission (CEC), and the third, which is the most difficult – the method of selecting members of the BiH Presidency, Houses of Peoples, etc.,” Forto explained.
Interview question: “Did you have a meeting with Schmidt? Is he afraid of Dodik’s announcements that Republika Srpska (RS) will pass its own election law?”
“I can’t predict what will happen, he didn’t announce it to us. There was some exchange of information and he presented some of his views and recommendations,” Forto pointed out, N1 writes.
E.Dz.
