Chairman of Bosnia's Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdic, reacted to the statement by RS President, Milorad Dodik, delivered during his recent visit to Belgrade. Zvizdić warned that Dodik's anti-Bosnian mood always increased at press conferences in Belgrade.

BiH CoM Chairman dismissed allegations about dysfunctionality of state institutions and administrative blockade of construction of the Bratunac-Ljubovija bridge and border crossing infrastructure.  

“On contrary to Dodik’s unfulfilled wishes and dreams, Bosnia and Herzegovina and all of its institutions, especially the Presidency of BiH and the Council of Ministers of BiH, achieve constant progress, despite continuous blockades from the entity of the Republic of Srpska, and they persistently and surely realize the key priorities of its internal and foreign policy – from the European and the NATO integration to economic development,” Zvizdic stressed, adding: “Of course, if there were no constant obstructions by the smaller BiH entity, all processes essential for citizens of BiH would be implemented much faster, and social security and life standards would be on a higher level.” 

As for misinformation regarding construction of the Bratunac-Ljubovija bridge, BiH CoM Chairman stressed that the CoM earmarked BAM 11 million through direct cooperation with the RS Government – as financier of the bridge construction – and it has remained a crucial initiator of the overall project, while the RS authorities’ participation is lower than five percent.  

“However, the most absurd and the most irrational are the statements in which Dodik, as a Bosnian Serb, calls BiH a failed state, unsuccessfully trying to diminish importance of a country he comes from, where he lives and works, by repeating of such untrue mantra,” underlined Zvizdic, who found it interesting that Dodik’s anti-Bosnian mood always increased at press conferences in Belgrade.  

Zvizdic concluded that the times when decisions on BiH were passed outside BiH were over.  

The Alliance for Better Future (SBB BiH) and the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) reacted to Dodik’s statements earlier this week.  

SBB BiH harshly condemned “the inappropriate, tendentious and provoking statements” by Milorad Dodik.  

“We remind Dodik and all those troopers assaulting the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina that, over the past thousand years of its proud history, this country resisted much stronger attacks and attackers than Dodik and his eastern sponsors are,” reads SBB BiH's statement.  

SDA warned the RS President to stop attacking the state of BiH.  

“The state of BiH will not fall apart. The only one that can fall apart is the RS entity under Dodik’s autocratic rule. (…) We are telling Dodik that BiH will exist forever , that the RS is not a state but an entity, which was created in Dayton within the framework of internationally recognized state of BiH, and that it can only survive in that capacity and that form,” the SDA stressed.  

Dodik said after this week’s meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that state insittutions of BiH were not functioning and that BiH was a failed state.