Serbs in Bosnia are dissatisfied because the international community has transferred numerous competencies from the Republika Srpska region to the state level, the Serb member of the tripartite Presidency Milorad Dodik told RTRS on Monday, adding that the RS does not have to endure "interventionism by the international community."

Bosnia is composed of two semi-autonomous entities, the Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation (FBiH), the entity where mostly Bosniaks and Croats live.

Dodik argued that the competencies which the state should have “are exclusively stated in the Constitution,” and that there is only nine of them.

“But now we have 85 of them in reality, most of which were stripped away from the RS. Did we create a better place for life and a more successful society? It is only getting worse for us,” he said.

“What did we get after all these years, except for a battle with an illusion which is called Bosnia and Herzegovina?” he asked.

The country is more and more becoming a divided society, and nobody wants to talk about that, he said, arguing that disrespecting the identities in former Yugoslavia caused the bloody war in the country.

“My primary identity is Serb and Republika Srpska,” he said, asking “why would someone want me to give up on my identity and become some abstract citizen of the world?”

Referring to the time when the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled in Bosnia at the beginning of the 20th century, Dodik said that “the Austro Hungarian efforts to impose democracy, coexistence and the Bosnian identity on Serbs did not succeed,” adding that Serbs need to know and learn lessons from their history.

Republika Srpska will not agree to any decision by international officials in Bosnia, even if it is well-intentioned, he said, arguing that it is not appropriate for them to make such decisions.

“Srpska had to put up with interventionism by the international community before. Today we don’t,” he said.