Željka Cvijanović said that Republika Srpska continuously offers dialogue and compromise, speaking at the 11th Delphi Economic Forum in Greece.
“It is often said that Bosnia and Herzegovina should move away from Dayton toward Brussels. I believe that thesis is not only unrealistic, but entirely wrong. It is not merely incompatible with European standards — it negates them. The question for all of us is this: how can democratic values be promoted through undemocratic instruments? How can sovereignty be preached while sovereignty is denied?” Cvijanović said.
She added that there is only one sustainable path forward: dialogue.
“Too often, political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina reject that path, believing foreign intervention can once again achieve through pressure what cannot be achieved through democratic agreement,” she said.
Cvijanović stressed that no democracy can function without dialogue among legitimate representatives.
“I welcome voices in international politics that increasingly recognize an important principle — lasting solutions cannot be imported. Nation-building by foreigners does not work. Stable institutions must emerge from domestic agreement, not external decrees,” she added.
She argued that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs the right remedy rather than further intervention.
“For Bosnia and Herzegovina, that remedy is not more intervention. It is respect for the Constitution agreed in 1995 in the United States. It is correcting past injustices. It is returning decision-making power to democratically elected domestic institutions. It is mutual respect among the three constituent peoples,” Cvijanović said.
She stated that the problem of Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been the Dayton Peace Agreement or Annex 4, which contains the Constitution.
“The problem has been the open and continuous refusal of various international and domestic actors to respect and fully implement it. The constitutional structure established by Dayton is not an obstacle to European integration, economic progress, institutional development or democracy. Illegal imposition is the obstacle. Interventionism is the obstacle. Constant rewriting of the Constitution is the obstacle. And finally, the unacceptable colonial status of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 21st century is certainly an obstacle,” she said.
Cvijanović added that decentralization itself is not the problem.
“It is time to end this outdated, undemocratic interventionist practice once and for all. Give Bosnia and Herzegovina enough space to breathe with its own lungs. Let its institutions rely on their own democratic legitimacy. Let compromise replace imposition. Let partnership replace tutelage. Let elected leaders govern, and citizens decide,” she said.
She concluded that the Dayton Peace Agreement is not an obstacle to the future, but its foundation, and can be improved only through consent, never through force.
Among the audience at the forum were Edi Rama and Kimberly Guilfoyle, with whom Cvijanović met before her address.
Source: RTRS
