A dissolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina will not happen now, considering that this goal could not even be achieved during the war in the 1990s and all who believe that the policy of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic can be pursued today should realise that it is a lost cause, former Croatian President, Stjepan Mesic, told N1.

Mesic, who was also the last president of the Presidency of former Yugoslavia, argued that the international community should discuss issues concerning BiH with its Presidency members rather than with the leaders of the strongest ethnic parties in the country.

He argued that, for example, BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik is often portrayed as the representative of Serbs in Bosnia when he travels abroad, and that the international community must make it clear that he is acting as a representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mesic stressed that Bosnia and Herzegovina should be set up as a civic state rather than one based on ethnic groups.

“If all countries in Europe are civic, BiH should not be any different,” he said.

The former Croatian president said the ongoing political crisis in Bosnia also concerns Europe, as well as the rest of the world and that it should be resolved “in the most democratic and just way.”

“This should be a policy that will not be conducted in Belgrade, Zagreb, but a policy that will be conducted in BiH, with the help of the international community,” he said.

Mesic noted that BiH has not been at the focus of the international community for a while due to crises emerging in other parts of the world, but he warned that now “there are ambitions to repeat the policy of Milosevic and (Franjo) Tudjman, it is a danger to Europe and the world.”

He criticised Croatia’s current Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, as well as President, Zoran Milanovic, for pursuing the policy of former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, which he argued is reflected in their support for Dragan Covic, the leader of the Croat Democratic Union in Bosnia (HDZ BiH).

Mesic said that Covic and his political ally, Dodik, are “destroyers of BiH.”

He also said that the political crisis in Bosnia should not last much longer as it is “exhausting” – not only for Bosnia but also for Croatia.

“Croatian politics cannot be conducted in a way focused only on the Election Law in BiH,” he said, arguing that Croatia has many other problems it needs to deal with.

“Until the situation is resolved in principle, there will always be competition,” Mesic said, commenting on the Bosnian crisis.

“The greatest powers of the West support BiH and its survival, but we see that there are countries that support Dodik as well,” he said, naming Russia and China.

As for the possibility of BiH breaking apart, Mesic said:

“That will not happen, it cannot happen! All those illusionists who are trying to return to Milosevic's politics, that is a lost cause. If BiH could not break apart even after a hundred thousand died during the war, how could it be now?”

He added that BiH has always been a European state and that there is no reason it should not continue to be.

“Those who want to break up BiH must get out of the political system, out of the decision-making space. No one can sit in the Presidency of BiH and work against BiH,” he said.