Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović stated that the British newspaper The Times is generously offering Christian Schmidt a chance to justify his undemocratic, illegal, and unilateral actions.
“It seems as though they are throwing a lifeline to a man who has done everything to prevent Bosnia and Herzegovina from succeeding, trying to shift responsibility for the collapse he caused onto someone else,” Cvijanović wrote on X, reacting to Schmidt’s interview for The Times.
She stressed that Schmidt’s decisions stand apart from those of previous high representatives:
“His predecessors also acted illegally — but at least they were aware of it. They worked to secure domestic parliamentary confirmation of those imposed acts to create a veneer of democratic legitimacy.”
Cvijanović emphasized that Schmidt’s unilateral decisions have never been and will never be verified by BiH’s legitimate institutions — nor will they ever become a legitimate part of the legal system:
“In Schmidt’s narrative, he becomes a martyr sent on a ‘difficult mission’ — for a massive salary funded by EU and U.S. taxpayers — supposedly to make BiH more functional. In reality, he has imposed laws and decisions that have destroyed internal dialogue, reduced mutual trust to zero, and are without any grounding in international or domestic law.”
She described Schmidt as one of the clearest tools of foreign state-building experiments, incompatible with any civilized democratic order.
Cvijanović reminded that Schmidt never received UN Security Council confirmation as required under the Dayton Agreement — and therefore never obtained the authority to alter laws or make political and financial decisions on behalf of BiH institutions.
Yet, she noted, he has:
— amended the Constitution of the Federation of BiH
— imposed changes to the BiH Election Law and Criminal Code
— suspended funding for political parties
— extended mandates of bodies not elected legally
— allocated taxpayers’ money without consent
— even interfered in U.S. presidential elections by publicly declaring that Donald Trump “is not a good solution for Europe”
“He certainly wasn’t speaking on behalf of Republika Srpska,” Cvijanović wrote.
“As for who pulls the strings — including his — that’s a discussion in itself.”
She questioned the purpose of The Times interview:
“Is it to prolong his stay in BiH? To justify the unjustifiable? Or to continue selling us the illusion that we live in a country governed by the rule of law?”
With the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement approaching, Cvijanović concluded that the current situation demands a serious reset:
“It is time for major house-cleaning — before the entire structure collapses. Or, as Shakespeare said: As you like it.”
Source: RTRS
