Whenever a step forward is made, Christian Schmidt intervenes and Bosnia and Herzegovina finds itself in a deep crisis, said Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ambassador to the EU, Obrad Kesić, speaking on the morning program of our television station.
Kesić emphasized that “Schmidt has no authority, no mandate, and that is what gives us strength.”
“Republika Srpska and its ambassadors have the right to speak out and say that this is not a crisis caused by Srpska. Under the law imposed by Schmidt, any citizen can be prosecuted for disobedience. The problem is not Milorad Dodik, the problem is Christian Schmidt. Even if Dodik were to leave, anyone who comes into the position of president of Republika Srpska would face the same law,” Kesić warned.
He noted that the Western Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina are currently not priorities for Washington and Brussels. The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not attracting significant attention at the moment, as it is believed the crisis should be resolved internally through dialogue.
“Messages from both Brussels and Washington are: ‘sit down, talk, and resolve the crisis.’ The problem is that one side refuses to negotiate and wants to resolve this crisis through legal force, legal violence, instead of dialogue with legitimately elected representatives of the Serb people. Constant threats come from Sarajevo, and there is no room for discussion. Sarajevo wants to choose whom to talk to, and I think both the U.S. and Brussels understand that such a dialogue cannot resolve this crisis,” said Kesić.
He stressed that the support coming from the U.S. and Europe for territorial integrity and sovereignty is not being undermined by Republika Srpska.
“Representatives of Republika Srpska are defending those principles. They are fighting for the removal of a foreigner who believes he has absolute power in Bosnia and Herzegovina. If anyone is defending sovereignty, it’s the representatives of Srpska. That confuses interlocutors who think this is a struggle because we allegedly don’t want to be part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We do want to be in Bosnia and Herzegovina—as guaranteed by the Dayton Peace Agreement,” Kesić stated.
Speaking about the support Republika Srpska has in the European Parliament, Kesić highlighted that “the number of members of parliament who support Srpska’s stance is growing daily—that it has the right, in the context of Dayton and international law, to affirm its autonomy guaranteed by Dayton and international law.”
“The European Parliament has 720 members, of which between 130 and 140 belong to two political groups, plus a significant number of independent MPs, who absolutely support Srpska’s position. It’s hard to find anyone who supports the use of Bonn powers as a form of executive authority,” Kesić concluded.
Source: RTRS
