According to Adis Ahmetovic, a member of Germany’s Bundestag, the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, introduced “a model from 1995” and “cemented ethnic divisions” in the country with the reforms he imposed in BiH on election day.
Schmidt, who is tasked with overseeing the civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, used his Bonn Powers to impose changes to the BiH Election Law related to the Federation of BiH (FBiH) entity on October 2.
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“Elections are the biggest instrument of democracy. To change the Constitution and the Electoral Law two hours after the closing of the polling stations, that doesn’t happen anywhere in the world,” Ahmetovic told N1, arguing that Schmidt, who used to be a member of the Bundestag, would never allow such a thing to happen in his country.
Apart from the timing of Schmidt’s decision, Ahmetovic also argued that he does not support the changes the High Representative introduces, arguing that he is of a different opinion regarding what Bosnia and Herzegovina should look like as a state.
“What he introduced is a model from 1995, and that law throws Bosnia and Herzegovina back to 1995 and it cemented ethnic divisions. I am seeking and fighting for a model for this country that I think has the support of the majority in BiH and the diaspora and that has the greatest support in the EU, that is the civic-European model. Every system is better than the one in BiH”, he said.
Ahmetovic stressed the importance of the swift formation of the government in Bosnia’s Federation (FBiH) entity following the elections, noting that this was not done throughout the past mandate – a situation he described as “bankruptcy of democracy”.
Ahmetovic welcomed some of Schmidt's reforms, such as introducing a deadline for the process of forming the FBiH Government. However, he criticised the decision to increase the number of representatives in the FBiH House of Peoples.
“That law does not help Croats, but helps the political party HDZ (Croat Democratic Union), and thus helps other ethnonational parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The idea might not be bad, but in practice, I think it will only cement the ethnic divisions in BiH, which I do not support,” Ahmetovic argued.
He also strongly criticised BiH’s western neighbour, Croatia, arguing that this EU member country was heavily involved in Schmidt’s decision.
“Croatia is a very nice country where extremely smart people live, it has successful people and very good diplomacy. I've been following it for five years and I see that only the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is on Croatia's political agenda regarding foreign policy,” Ahmetovic said, arguing that BiH can “hardly breathe” because of the pressure coming from Zagreb, as well as Belgrade.
