Everybody in Bosnia needs to “grow up politically” and start solving internal issues without foreign help, the deputy leader of the ruling party in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated part told N1 on Thursday.
The deputy leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Nikola Spiric, spoke about recent statements his party leader Milorad Dodik made regarding the functioning of Bosnia.
Dodik, who will be swapping his post of President of the Serb-dominated semi-autonomous entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska (RS), for the post of the Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite state presidency, said that he thinks Bosnia needs to be more sovereign and take over the decision-making process, excluding foreign actors.
He advocated for the exclusion foreign judges from the Constitutional Court and criticised actions taken by High Representatives in the country, foreign diplomats assigned to monitor the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement which ended the 1992-1995 war.
Spiric said Dodik is a person who “can contribute to resolving issues.”
“I think it would be good for us if we would reach out to each other and work for the interest of the citizens. I think we can make decisions ourselves, without foreign influences,” he said, adding that the way in which Dodik is being portrayed to the public is “not helping anyone.”
“We need to grow up politically, I think that is Dodik’s message and that it is OK,” he said.
He also spoke about sanctions the US State Department imposed in September against him and members of his immediate family over his alleged “involvement in significant corruption.”
“It is not comfortable being put on such lists and I am not happy it happened,” Spiric said. “I think this was done based on speculations and time will show what it was all about.”
Spiric said that he never lead “spiteful” politics against anybody, “especially not against the USA.”
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