21.02.2001 RTV Mostar

Interview with Wolfgang Petritsch for RTV Mostar

I will have a number of opportunities in the coming period to speak for RTV Mostar because a short interview is not enough to explain all of the motives that prompted me to make such a decision in this very moment. The question of my retirement can be viewed from two aspects. One is political, and I agree with the commentator that it is the right moment in political terms, and I will elaborate on it thoroughly. The other aspect is emotional because many Mostarians who have known my activities in the past 9 years, especially the people who went through a very difficult time together with me in Mostar, know well how much effort I have made, without any reservations, in the struggle for the idea of Mostar. Those people see it from an emotional aspect and there are some unnecessary fears and frustrations as to what will happen now. Those are my friends who appreciate what I am doing and they would like me to keep working.

Still, on the other hand, there are the political reasons that I have weighed carefully. I have not done anything hastily, nor have I consulted anyone. I have always analysed the situation before making decisions for the City of Mostar and I have always made moves by myself when necessary, and, as you know, those moves resulted in good things for Mostar, starting from the Mostar documents, Dayton, negotiations, elimination of all extremists who did not even want the freedom of movement, let alone living together in MostarŠ There is a whole history behind us and there will be enough time to speak about it in detail.

Still, it is a fact that the moment has arrived for the interim phase in MostarŠ Exactly at the time of the complete change of authorities in the Canton, I want to make this move because I could see that the political space in which I was working was getting narrow, and that, after I did certain things, and those are the difficult struggle for the City Budget, because Mostar now has a capital with which the city can go ahead; the struggle for the return to flats and the beginning of a normal functioning of life on both sides, there is a true reconciliation. Those were the three things which made me conclude that what I wanted to realise in Mostar, was realised. I did not want to be a burden on the City of Mostar any longer and inhibit a faster progress due to the dualism that emerged in the city.

Office of the High Representative