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To describe the situation in B&H you must imagine an ordinary western European country where a major political party, which has won a significant number of places in the legislature, simply refuses to show up and participate in the authority. It would provoke an outcry and protests. This is exactly what the HDZ B&H has done. International funds for Bosnia and Herzegovina are running out. This is not a scare story - it is the truth. More importantly for Bosnian and Herzegovinian Croats: the Republic of Croatia has drastically reduced the money to Croats in B&H. The extremist wing of the HDZ Now, Croatia tells B&H Croats to look to their government in Sarajevo to defend their interests. While still concerned about Croats living next door, Croatia has enough economic difficulties of its own without trying to take on those of another country. But there are still some political leaders who claim to represent the interests of peoples Bosnia and Herzegovina and who would rather sacrifice such a future for their own selfish, short term grains. In the B&H House of representatives on Wednesday, Presidency member and HDZ leader Ante Jelavic had the arrogance to state: " I think it is unbelievable that three months after the elections we have not formed a government. What is the problem?" However, the problem is just Mr. Jelavic and the extremist wing of the HDZ. Three months after the elections, we are still without a government at State and Federation levels. The business of constituting assemblies in Cantons 8 and 10, where the HDZ has absolute majority, and could have easily done it within the Constitutional time frame, is only now beginning. Why? Because the HDZ consistently refuses to cooperate and fulfill its constitutional obligation to which it was elected: to participate in the authority. Their reasons for trying to bring the country to its knees are as spurious as they are damaging. The HDZ claims it cannot accept the changed Provisional Electoral Commission (PEC) Rules and regulations governing the formation of the Federation House of Peoples. This argument does not hold water. Firstly, the HDZ - like any other political party competing in the elections - signed a declaration respecting the PEC Rules and Regulations and the Dayton peace Accords. Secondly, regardless of the new PEC Rules and regulations, the HDZ would most likely have a majority among the 30 Croats in the Federation House of Peoples, enabling the Party to block any legislation it deemed damaging to their voters' interests. And thirdly, the November elections were the last ones governed by the PEC Rules. The next elections will be held under the long overdue Election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. If the elected representatives from the HDZ took up their seats and engaged in the process of passing the law, the HDZ could make sure that this law is to its taste. The HDZ leadership poured scorn on the country's Constitutional Court. The HDZ promised to respect the Court's ruling on the PEC's rules and regulations as well as the post-election decisions of the Election Appeals Sub-Commission and then to start implementing the election results, after the Court's decision has been passed. On 02 February the Court decided that it is not competent, and the HDZ did not respect the decision. It is an obvious obstruction of the hard-line members from within the HDZ. In any state, the Constitutional Court is the highest court in the land and its decisions are final and legally binding. The trashing of the Court's decision came only a few days after my meeting with Mr Jelavic and his advisors, which lasted for over two and half hours. At that meeting, Mr Jelavic promised to respect the Court and that he will start to cooperate in the process of the forming of the governments and elected assemblies. He immediately broke his promise. The HDZ were also repeatedly called on by my office to propose delegates for the new multi-ethnic, Constitutional Commissions. The HDZ in the eyes of people These parliamentary Commissions will examine every piece of legislation before it goes to the parliaments for adoption, and thereby ensure that it does not discriminate against any of BiH's constituent peoples or the group of Others. The HDZ did not hand over the proposals of their candidates. My staff and I put in several telephone calls to senior HDZ officials and extended the deadline. The HDZ then notified us they would not propose anybody. It threw away an opportunity that might have even landed them a say in the Constitutional Commission in RS. The voters who cast their ballots for the HDZ in November have been cheated by their own political party. We must continue our task of the establishing of the Government, which implies creating of a secure, prosperous and better life of all B&H citizens. The main HDZ board should think carefully about their image in front of the people that they should represent. Filling them with groundless fears about their rights and existence will only damage the party itself in the long run. Unfortunately fear remains a factor here that is easy to play on. But the HDZ should have..be aware that the total number of the votes, that they have won, have more than halved since 1996. (NB: the last sentence does not have any sense.) There will be no third entity It is also clear there will be no third entity. The cap badges and insignias are nothing more than a blue print for a territory doomed to poverty and isolation. Any self-proclaimed third entity would be sealed and sanctioned by the international community from day one. A third entity would leave out Croats living in Central Bosnian towns like Jajce, Vitez and Kiseljak, along with Croats in the RS and Sarajevo. Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina need leaders who see this too, not the current HDZ's hard-line leadership. Croats have a secure future in BiH Croats have a secure future in B&H, without them there is no B&H. Leaders of the Croat people outside of the HDZ and the IC are working hard to ensure the rights with rule of law, investment and aid. This is evidenced by the Zepce process, which met Croat concerns, or the help we provided to secure school buildings for 200 Croat teachers and pupils at the primary school in Vares and 450 pupils in Bugojno. We also made sure that the "Hrvatski Dom" building in Bugojno was returned to Napredak. The IC has poured a few hundreds of millions of dollars worth of aid to rebuild Croat homes and lives.
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