The Serb member of the BiH Presidency, who is also the leader of the SNSD, has said that his party will go before the Republika Srpska National Assembly to propose an analysis of the current situation, including years when Republika Srpska suffered because of revisions of the Dayton Agreement, and propose what should be done in the coming period, and everything that is adopted by Parliament will be the result of wide political consultations.
“The SNSD will hold a meeting of the Main Board in mid-September, draft a political platform in response to the newly-arisen situation, and propose it to the Republika Srpska National Assembly for consideration and adoption. I leave a possibility open for finding a formula of getting out of a standstill to which individuals who have extremely short-sighted political brains put us all together before a session of the National Assembly is called,” Dodik said in an interview for SRNA on Thursday.
When asked to comment on the fact that the deadline for the implementation of the agreement on the formation a new Council of Ministers expires today, which agreement was signed by the leaders of the SNSD, HDZ and the SDA and which was set as a reasonable timeframe to appoint members of the Council of Ministers, Dodik has said that everything in BiH, starting from the Dayton Agreement until the present days, was an attempt at an agreement resulting in disagreement, in circles.
“The BiH public is a witness as to how the agreement was broken, before the ink on the paper dried, by both some of the signatories and some domestic and foreign actors. The SNSD, as a party which won the past general elections and got a mandate from the people to represent the Serb people in joint institutions, entered talks on the formation of these institutions in a responsible way, but our partners from the FBiH were not equally serious,” Dodik said.
ANP IS NOT TO BLAME FOR FAILURE TO FORM AUTHORITIES, BUT SDA’S WEAK COALITION POTENTIAL
He has said that the Annual National Plan /ANP/ for membership in NATO has never been a condition for the formation of authorities and it is absolutely clear that it has been set as a condition to prevent the SNSD from entering the joint institutions.
“But, it would be naïve, irresponsible and incorrect to say that the Annual National Plan /ANP/ for membership in NATO is the problem because of which joint institutions were not formed, because it is not,” Dodik said and asked why the FBiH government has not been formed 11 months since the elections, if the ANP is a condition of all conditions when there is no disagreement over this document at least in the FBiH where the SNSD is not a political subject and where Milorad Dodik is not a negotiator.
If everything is OK, and if everything is because of the ANP, as they claim, Dodik asked why the governments of the FBiH and Cantons have not been formed…” So, it is clear that problems are more complex than membership in NATO,” Dodik said.
When asked what the real problem is, Dodik has said that the SDA, the party which received the most votes from the Bosniaks, after the elections has a significantly weaker coalition potential, and that a part of the problem in connection with the government formation is because of this fact.
“The SDA must do post-election calculations both at the level of Cantons and the FBiH in order to be able to appear as a partner at the level of joint institutions. It is obvious that it is difficult for /Bakir/ Izetbegović to deal with these puzzles and this is why we are here today,” Dodik said.
He has said that today, just like in previous months, it is clear that only Republika Srpska is able to function in BiH, whose government is marking one year of the functioning after general elections.
“While I have been saying all these years that we are the only part of BiH which is functioning, some in the FBiH mocked me. Let them keep mocking while looking at the newly-appointed government based on results of the past elections,” Dodik said.
SNSD WILL NOT NEGOTIATE ANP, WHICH IS DECISION OF SRPSKA PEOPLE
He said that on behalf of the SNSD, he can still say today that as a party that has been mandated by the Serb people to join joint institutions, it will not negotiate an Annual National Programme for NATO membership, as it would violate the Military Neutrality Resolution adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.
“According to the statements by other politicians from Republika Sppska, including the opposition ones, there is no one who would ignore the resolution. Or maybe there is? I hear that some would talk about reduced Annual Programme. I want the public in Republika Srpska to be aware there is no reduced, small or large Programme. There is Annual National Programme for NATO Membership, and the document that goes to Brussels has the status of an Annual National Programme for NATO Membership,” Dodik explained in his SRNA interview.
He emphasizes that he is clarifying it so that one would not accidentally mislead the citizens of Srpska regarding the name of the document, because the public in Srpska, according to the studies, and a few have been done on this topic, has a very negative attitude towards BiH’s path towards NATO.
“And, for our own and the international public’s sake, I want to emphasize that the decision not to join any military bloc was a decision made by the Republika Srpska National Assembly solely and only in the interest of Republika Srpska. Any hoax that our decision is the fruit of Russia’s influence is now ridiculous, and no one is seriously considering it.
Some political circles in Sarajevo and Republika Srpska needed the thesis that our position was the fruit of Russia’s influence for ingratiating with the leading NATO member states, and we see it as part of the anti-Russian hysteria that has been fashionable in recent years in the world,” noted Serb member of the BiH Presidency and SNSD leader.
He said that he was absolutely sure that the NATO itself knows that it was a decision of Republika Srpska, and that they even understood the reasons for such a decision. He had repeatedly heard from the NATO alliance that the journey towards the Alliance was a matter of agreement in BiH.
“Everyone who calls on the path to NATO for general security in BiH is misleading the public, because NATO entered BiH in 1995 and, as far as I can see, has no intention of leaving soon. As far as Republika Srpska is concerned, the presence of soldiers is fully welcomed in the Althea mission and we see them as part of the overall international effort to preserve stability and security in BiH.
We have an Individual program of cooperation with NATO, we have already been cooperating with that alliance, we are not creating problems or obstructions in that cooperation, but we simply do not want to be full member of that military alliance; the reasons for such decision we have talked about a million times and I believe that everyone already knows, so why then we should join the NATO,” Dodik said.
BiH IS IN CRISIS, BUT PEACE IS NOT JEOPARDIZED
He stressed that BiH is not threatened by any conflicts, either internally or externally. “BiH is in crisis, perhaps in a breakup phase, but it is certainly not in such a situation that it can be suspected that peace or security is threatened here and no one has any relevant or serious indication to deny me,” Dodik said.
Despite all the political differences, he says, BiH is safer and more peaceful today than many countries that are not the focus of international attention.
“We, from Republika Srpska, will do everything not to endanger either peace or stability in BiH. Therefore, it might be appropriate to address the NATO directly with a proposal not to pressure BiH on sending the Annual National Programme for NATO Membership, because they may also unknowingly destabilize BiH’s political situation by doing this,” Dodik said.
If NATO backed out of its demands, Dodik pointed out, all the aforementioned reasons for blocking the formation of joint institutions in BiH would immediately cease, adding that it might sound naive, but NATO could unblock the entire process by abolishing the Membership Action Plan for BiH.
“I have recently heard from many, locals and internationals, that adopting the Annual National Programme for NATO Membership is just a technical issue. Excuse me, if it’s a technical issue, why not take it away so we stop getting terrorized on a technical issue” asked Dodik.
PREVENTING SRPSKA FROM EXPRESSING ITSELF POLITICALLY AT THE SCENE
Asked to comment on the statement by Igor Crnadak, caretaker Foreign Minister in the Council of Ministers and PDP Deputy Leader, in which he tried to accuse the SNSD of causing war, Dodik said that he certainly condemned such a statement and believed Crnadak did it out of petty political interests.
“Such defamation, such fabrication at the expense of Republika Srpska, would hardly be uttered by the greatest political Taliban in the FBiH. By saying a word – war, Crnadak did not try to deal with the SNSD, but with the entire Republika Srpska. I have been involved in politics for a long time, but I have never resolved political differences with other parties at the expense of my people and Srpska. That is why Crnadak’s statement is for contempt and condemnation,” Dodik emphasized.
He said it was interesting that the foreign minister and PDP official was dying of fear that Republika Srpska would reconsider its involvement in the joint institutions so much that it sees the war.
“We would like to fulfill the people’s will and be part of those institutions, just because of such personnel in the joint institutions. Due to such personnel as Crnadak, Republika Srpska loses its credibility both in the joint institutions and outside BiH. What internationals could think about us, when minister from Republika Srpska says so; and we have heard all sorts of nonsense from the Serb honor to the war stories. However, what is obvious nonsense for our people, someone abroad reports and records differently, so I ask publicly if is it their lack of mind or order from abroad,” Dodik said.
He stressed that he once again wanted to reiterate that he took the office of a Serb member of the BiH Presidency to protect the interest of the Serb people who elected him.
“Everything that I have done so far, I have done with the intention of protecting the interest of our people. I have kept saying since the beginning that I did not go to the Presidency to do any harm, referring to the other two constituent peoples. But also political Sarajevo, which now he has two members of the Presidency, has to understand that I cannot or do not want to work against the people who elected me,” Dodik emphasized in an interview for SRNA.
Reiterating that everyone is aware that he is not a BiH lover or someone who will die for it, Dodik stresses that he is experiencing the crisis as problematic as it produces consequences for Republika Srpska and that he believes it is clear to everyone.
“If the Bosniak politicians believe they have time by setting conditions and obstructions in the constitution of the institutions, I do not understand why they think that all the time in the world is not mine! I just urge them no longer to refer me to the Constitution while violating the basic provisions of the Constitution, or to stop referring me to the laws while violating laws and other acts of the institutions they are supposed to advocate, such as the Law on Council of Ministers or the Rules of Procedure of the Presidency,” Dodik said.
He warns that preventing Republika Srpska from expressing itself politically is at the scene, through the fight against the SNSD.
“Let them do whatever they think will be of benefit to their political story, just let them know that the SNSD has both its own and coalition capacity in both the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. Responsible policy towards Republika Srpska, among other things, implies respect for the electoral will of its citizens, thus we, as the party that gained the trust of its people, will never give up on the winner’s right to take responsibility for the representation of Republika Srpska in joint institutions,” said a Serb member of the BiH Presidency and SNSD leader.
Dodik said it would be good for other Republika Srpska-based parties that have got parliamentary seats in the BiH parliament to consider if responsible national policy is what we have all been looking at for the last five years, when the losers of the Republika Srpska elections represent the same Republic at the state level.
“We think it is not, the citizens think it is not, only the SDS and PDP believe their behavior is not nationally responsible. Nationally responsible behavior would mean a willingness to act jointly, which would entail leaving joint institutions if Republika Srpska’s position was threatened. The SNSD will not give up on reaching a political agreement on responsible policy of everyone from Republika Srpska in joint institutions,” Serb member of the BiH Presidency Member Milorad Dodik said in an interview for SRNA.
Source: srna
