By criticising the conditioning of the approval of the prime minister candidate with Bosnia’s accession to NATO, the Bosnian Croat nationalist leader proved he was just paying lip service to the country’s NATO membership, his opponents said on Tuesday.
Dragan Covic, the leader of Bosnia’s nationalist Croat Democratic Union (HDZ), lost the post of the Croat representative in Bosnia’s tripartite presidency to left-leaning Zeljko Komsic in October 2018.
But even before the election, Covic strengthened his ties to pro-Russian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who became the Serb representative in the Presidency in October.
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Bosnia walked its path toward NATO membership for years, only to stop when the Alliance opened its doors and approved the activation of the country’s Membership Action Plan (MAP) in December 2018.
The change of heart is due to Dodik and his party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), which now claims it does not want to see Bosnia in NATO.
The three presidents make decisions like this by consensus, and Komsic conditioned his approval of Dodik’s proposed candidate for the prime minister with the support to NATO membership.
Covic sided with Dodik on Monday, saying that “two Bosniak Presidency members are setting conditions to Mr Dodik.”
Covic considers Komsic to be an illegitimate representative of Bosnian Croats, saying that Bosniaks had voted for Komsic while Bosnian Croats overwhelmingly voted for him. He thus called Komsic a “Bosniak” representative.
According to Komsic’s left-leaning Democratic Front (DF), there are now two key blocs in Bosnia, “the NATO and the anti-NATO coalition.”
“There is no doubt that at this moment the joint anti-NATO coalition is composed of the SNSD and the HDZ,” the party said in a press statement on Tuesday, referring to Covic’s and Dodik’s parties.
“Mr Covic has yesterday admitted that, as opposed to two Bosnian presidency members, NATO integration is not in his interest or in the interest of the politics of the HDZ,” it said.
With this statement, the Bosnian Croat leader has “not only sided with Milorad Dodik, but also explicitly sent a message that he supports the blocking of NATO integration by his pro-Russian partner Milorad Dodik,” the party said.
The press statement also reminded that Covic had abandoned the Foreign Policy Strategy which he signed while he was the Bosnian Croat Presidency member, which included a request for activating the Membership Action Plan (MAP), an essential step in Bosnia’s path toward membership in the alliance.
Covic’s statement also drew reactions from other political parties and officials.
The Civic Alliance (GS) said that Covic and Dodik are “shutting down any hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will finally sail into more peaceful waters.”
Bosnia’s Security Minister, Dragan Mektic, said that “Covic is against anything that does not suit him and Dodik,” and that the Bosnian Croat leader should not be criticising anyone for setting any conditions when he is doing the same thing.
Covic and the HDZ have been saying that they will not allow the Government of Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) entity to be formed following the election unless changes to the Election Law are made that would prevent candidates to win posts thanks to voters of another ethnic group.
