Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic told Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Monday that he is a coward who, instead of implementing reforms, chooses conflicts and insults that are only resorted to at village fairs.

Last week, the incumbent president of Republika Srpska insulted the BiH foreign minister, calling him a fool because he points to the problematic behavior of some Bosnian Serb politicians who, together with Russia, are blocking BiH's efforts to draw closer to EU membership. In a Facebook post, Konakovic replied that he had hoped Dodik would fulfill the promises he made when they were negotiating the ruling coalition in BiH, but that now it was clear that nothing had come of it.

Dodik's attacks on the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and non-compliance with its decisions, as well as his attacks on the High Representative, ultimatums, threats and blackmail, are evidence of Dodik's “return to the safe zone of radicalism and nationalism accompanied by guttersnipe rhetoric from village fairs,” said Konakovic.

“He (Dodik) does not have the courage that leaders must have to lead their people to the path of prosperity, it is easier for him to cowardly stay in the zone of conflict and hubbub, while another opportunity is possibly lost for our country and all the people in it,” Konakovic pointed out.

It is unfortunate that because of Dodik's behavior, Bosnia and Herzegovina may lose the great opportunity it is now being offered to accelerate its European journey, including the great financial support from various funds that Brussels has at its disposal, Konakovic said.

The fact that BiH, after a long-term standstill, received the status of a candidate for EU membership at the end of 2022 and the prospect of becoming a leader of European integration in the Western Balkans is proof that it would be logical to continue implementing reforms faster, but in such a situation “Dodik is showing the cowardice that clearly dominates his political being,” says Konakovic.

Dodik still has a little time to prove whether he will change his behavior or continue with radicalism and nationalism, but whatever he decides, he must know that there will be no “breaking up” of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Konakovic said in reference to Dodik's recent statement made after his re-election as the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), when he said that he would initiate a “peaceful separation” of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities while erecting a “sufficiently high fence” between them.