Banjaluka, October 12 – Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik told SRNA that the position of the EU Foreign Affairs Council – that holding a referendum on judiciary at BiH state level in Srpska would be a “challenge to cohesion, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina” – in essence, is defending earlier misdeeds and violations of the international law.
Dodik has said that dealing with such issue is the right of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, but making conclusions on the basis of speculations in Sarajevo and “remaining in delusional domain” based on them is inconceivable.
“If you read what this is about and what is the (referendum related) issue, you will than realise that this is not the collapse of territorial integrity … But, it is obvious that BiH has a problem with the territorial integrity because everyone is defending it. Therefore when one is defending something strongly, than something is not right there,” Dodik told SRNA.
He mentioned that the story about the BiH Court and the Prosecutor’s Office is not the new one, but the Europeans have directly interfered in this way.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina, which they push to be sovereign or should be on the European path, should have made its own decisions, and should not be treated as a stepchild or as the country that needs the lectures to be given to,” Dodik said and added that Europe itself bears some responsibility when it comes to the problems related to the judiciary at the state level.
Speaking on the assessment by the EU Foreign Affairs Council that the major shortcomings of the BiH judiciary should be solved through the structured dialogue on the judiciary, Dodik pointed out that one country, in order to have a structured dialogue with the EU, must be a candidate for EU membership.
“A position that there is no a need for a referendum and that something is to be solved via a dialogue, especially structured one, shows that someone here is just practicing on us. If a country had a structured dialogue with the EU, that country would be a candidate for the EU membership, and the EU should than give it the chapters in order to negotiate,” the Srpska president points out.
The Srpska president said that the people in Srpska must never lose the right to decide for themselves.
“We stand by the decisions issued by the Republika Srpska National Assembly, which is not something that could be minimised in any single thing,” said Dodik.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council announced on Monday that holding a referendum on judiciary at the state level in Srpska would be a “challenge to cohesion, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
“It would bring into question the efforts to improve socio-economic conditions for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and further progress in the integration with the EU,” says a statement issued in Brussels.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council says that the major shortcomings of the BiH judiciary should be solved through the structured dialogue on the judiciary.
Source: SRNA
