The Minister of European Integration and International Cooperation of Republika Srpska, Zlatan Klokić, stated that this year’s European Commission report on Bosnia and Herzegovina contains numerous inaccurate and malicious assessments regarding the role and actions of Republika Srpska’s institutions. He characterized it as highly one-sided and said it does not objectively reflect the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Klokić explained that the essence of the report is to shift responsibility onto Republika Srpska for allegedly undermining Bosnia and Herzegovina because Republika Srpska has dared to demand that the electoral process be restored to a legal framework, free from the interference of an illegally self-proclaimed foreign actor.
He pointed out that Republika Srpska is also being criticized for insisting on addressing the issue of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the status of foreign judges, which is one of the 14 priorities defined by the European Commission as a prerequisite for initiating the negotiation process.
According to Klokić, Republika Srpska is also being blamed for not implementing the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite a higher number of unimplemented decisions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Klokić said the report accuses Republika Srpska of so-called secessionist rhetoric, which does not exist. Rather, there is a consistent insistence on returning Bosnia and Herzegovina to its Dayton constitutional framework, that is, to legal and legitimate parameters.
“A document like this, which the European Commission ambitiously calls a report, is unacceptable to the institutions of Republika Srpska and cannot be regarded as relevant in any respect,” Klokić emphasized for Srna.
He added that the position of Republika Srpska is that the European integration process can only be realized with full respect for the constitutional structure, position, and competencies of Republika Srpska’s institutions.
“We hope that Brussels will begin to objectively view the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the near future, free itself from external pressures, and start treating Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Western Balkan countries as partners. Unfortunately, this approach by the European Commission, which has now become routine, leads nowhere,” Klokić stated.
President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik commented that the European Commission report on Bosnia and Herzegovina is pure propaganda and that the institutions of Republika Srpska will return it to Brussels once it is officially delivered.
Source: RTRS
