Zeljko Komsic, the Chairman of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency, warned i his address before the UN Security Council on Thursday that the country is stuck on its path of transition to the modern democratic country, where ethnic groups and politics are used to create tensions and destabilisation in order to achieve short and long-term geopolitical goals. “I find such geopolitical treatment of Bosnia and Herzegovina absolutely unacceptable,” Komsic stressed. He also addressed criticism towards international peace envoy in BiH Christian Schmidt and his regular report on the situation in the country. Pročitaj više

“This is how we see this, but also all upcoming reports of the Office of the High Representative (OHR). The fact that different geopolitical games are being played in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we can show simply through the efforts of various actors and political groups to challenge the legitimacy of the High Representative, thus trying to create space for the implementation of planned geopolitical interests. Regardless of the fact that there are political debates in Bosnia and Herzegovina about whether the High Representative is legitimate, that is, whether he was elected in accordance with the appropriate procedure, I want to clearly point out that I support the existence of the Office of the High Representative, as long as the environment for the closure of OHR is created through the implementation so called ‘5+2 conditions’,” said Komsic.

He stressed he did not even want to take part in discussions whether Christian Schmidt is a legitimate High Representative or not, because BiH plays no role in the appointment of the High Representatives.

However, Kosmic pointed out several “very important elements” that were either omitted in the report or not presented in and “adequate way” in Schmidt's latest report – including mass protests of citizens in front of the OHR building, expressing discontent over his decision.

“The large number of both gatherings of citizens, in which no political parties participated, tells us that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are aware of all important issues in their country, but also that they are aware and dissatisfied with some bad decisions made by the current High Representative. I believe that the High Representative will appreciate and respect this in his future work, especially in regard with the future decision making,” he noted.

He praised the High Representative for some of the decisions he made, protecting the constitutional order in BiH, but noting that they were “insufficient and incomplete,” which according to Komsic created political tensions as well as attempts to further divide BiH on ethnic basis until its full dissolution.

Assessing Schmidt's reactions, Komsic said there is a “huge disproportion” between Schmidt's stances and what he does in overcoming these problems, adding that his diagnosis of the actors speaking of peaceful dissolution is accurate but not followed by adequate activities.

“Whether this behaviour of the High Representative is caused by the lack of his capacities or the cause of it is the lack of support from the international community, is a question that deserves a clear and precise answer. The citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina expect this answer, especially in the new geopolitical context,” he stressed.

Komsic also assessed that current High Representative is not taking the role of mediator in cases concerning the difficulties in functioning of the state caused by different political interests of the two entities, stressing that he is action towards the Federation (Bosniak-Croat shared entity) is “pro-active” and “reactive” towards Republika Srpska (Serb-majority) part.

Such different treatment, according to him, puts the High Representative in a very unenviable position, “because it creates a possible sense of his political insecurity and bias.”

Komsic also expressed concern over the statements by Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic, who said they lobbied the election legislation changes in BiH, in a way that it suits Croatia's interest and at detriment of the sovereignty of BiH.

“This can be a significant evidence and indicator of the High Representative's bias, which opens many other questions. One of them refers to the creation of ethnically clean territories in BiH under de facto control of neighbouring states, which the High Representative did through the imposed model of election for upper chamber of the legislative body in the Federation entity. Something like this is certainly not a good or appropriate practice,” he stressed.

He touched upon the formation of government following the latest election in BiH, noting that the High Representative showed his bias by allowing a political group to form a new government, “contrary to the election results, by suspending the entity constitution for 24 hours.”

“This was an unprecedented attack on the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina, because the suspension of any constitution cannot have its own legitimate goal. These are also not good practices, because they portray the High Representative as a biased person, which, due to the work he performs, he should never be,” said Komsic.

In the end, he asked for the international community's help to establish a full democracy in BiH, as well as full state of rule of law and full protection of individual human and civic rights.

“On this path, the main priority should be the implementation of all judgments of the European Court for Human Rights. Only in this way we will make a significant step towards stabilisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the stabilisation of the entire region of the Western Balkans and thereby respond to existing geopolitical challenges. Everything else leads to possible uncontrolled situations, which will be very difficult to manage and for which it is difficult to assess how badly they can end”, said Komsic.