Newly elected Serb member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite Presidency Milorad Dodik announced he might initiate amendments to the Constitution of Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity towards the abolition of RS Council of Peoples.

Dodik, who is the new Serb member of the state Presidency, elected in RS, said he would initiate the Constitution changes if Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) entity does not solve the issue of the Serb Caucus in that entity’s parliament.

He recalled that the Serb Caucus in the FBiH, Bosnia’s semi-autonomous entity where the Bosniaks and the Croats are the majority, has not been formed since the Dayton Peace Agreement, a document which ended the 1992-95 war and established a government system in Bosnia.

“I am not threatening, but if we cannot have that caucus filled, why would we be servile to others in Republika Srpska,” said Dodik, now outgoing President of that entity.

He emphasised that the RS Council of Peoples was not an obligation stemming from the Dayton treaty but that FBiH is obliged to have the House of Peoples.

The Dayton Agreement divided Bosnia into two semi-autonomous entities, the Serb-dominated RS and the FBiH shared by the Bosniaks and Croats. Despite the domination in particular entity, each of the three major ethnic groups is guaranteed equal rights and, consequently, a possibility to veto decisions if they think the vital national interest of their ethnic group was jeopardised.

Dodik told Serbian media he was not opposed to RS Council of Peoples’ further functioning.

“But you won’t be degrading us while you are spreading here. I am not against any Bosniak interest but you won’t violate our national interests while something has to be done here by default,” Dodik said for Belgrade-based Politika daily newspaper.