The High Representative and EU Special Representative, Valentin Inzko, met separately today in Banja Luka with RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, SDS President Mladen Bosić, DP President Dragan Čavić, and PDP Vice President, Branislav Borenović.
These meetings were part of ongoing consultations between the HR/EUSR and political leaders ahead of the next meeting of the Peace Implementation Council, scheduled to take place on 24 and 25 February and the expected visit of the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Catherine Ashton to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The meetings focus on the overall political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and specifically the progress that has been made in implementing the reform agenda.
In the wake of the adoption of the Law on Referendum in the RSNA yesterday, the High Representative and EU Special Representative told each party leader that those who supported this law have set off in a dangerous direction. “The parties that supported this law will be deemed fully responsible for its consequences. They are creating profound concern among many ordinary people in the country and they risk pushing the RS into isolation,” said Inzko.
“In light of the situation in BiH, a referendum, if it happens, would be, by many, considered a provocation,” said Inzko. “A referendum that could undermine the most basic principles of the Peace Agreement as well as international law is an exercise that no responsible politician should engage in.”
In Banja Luka today, the HR/EUSR also reiterated that it is up to BiH leaders to find a solution to the outstanding issues of the allocation of State and Defence property between the different tiers of government. He stressed that the BiH Council of Ministers, the Entity governments, and the Brčko District government must reach agreement on State and Entity property to ensure that every level of authority has the property it requires to carry out its constitutional and legal responsibilities.
“BiH institutions will spend 28 million KM of BiH tax-payers’ money this year just to rent premises. When agreement on property allocation has been reached, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to accommodate the institutions it must establish as part of the EU accession process, and use that 28 million KM in ways that will benefit citizens much more directly,” the HR/EUSR said.
During his meetings, the High Representative and EU Special Representative fervently called for a return to constructive politics, a new focus on Euro-Atlantic integration and the unresolved issues on the work agenda set out by the Peace Implementation Council.