European Parliament can vote anything but not all of it is useful or appropriate, said Milorad Dodik, the President of Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity, commenting on the resolution in which the MEPs called for sanctions on the Serb leader and other high-ranking officials due to “secessionist rhetoric” and other activities including the celebration of unconstitutional holiday of the Day of Republika Srpska.

Dodik said that the policy of sanctioning instead of the policy of dialogue and understanding the other and different has unfortunately appeared in the European Parliament as well.

“Nobody suffered because of my politics. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not more invalid because of it than it would normally be, the European path was not brought into question, neither its territorial integrity, so I am curious what inspired the Euro parliamentarians to propose one such measure,” asked Dodik.

EU parliament prepares resolution on Western Balkans, demands sanctions on Dodik

He also said he chose to live free and that this is how everyone lives in Republika Srpska entity.

“I choose to decide freely and according to my conscience, to respect all legal acts of Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina. If I need to be punished for that, so be it, but at least let it be clearly said and known that I was punished because I used my own brain, respected the Constitution and was guided by national interests,” Dodik said.

Last year the UK introduced sanctions against Dodik for “undermining of the legitimacy and functionality of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Previously, the US extended sanctions on Dodik for undermining BiH institutions by “calling for the seizure of state competencies and setting in motion the creation of parallel institutions in BiH’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity.”