Bosnia is in the same political situation as it was in the 90s. The ethnic principle with the constituent nations did not work, therefore there must be a European principle, Adis Ahmetovic, a member of the SPD in Germany’s Bundestag, told DW.

“Providing support to Bosnia and Herzegovina on the way to a better future” is the name of the resolution submitted to the parliamentary procedure by the parties of the German ruling coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. The Bundestag will vote on this resolution before the summer recess.

One of the proponens of the resolution, SPD’s MP Adis Ahmetovic, believes that the resolution is of historical importance for BiH “because the Bundestag decided to deal with this topic in the first place”.

Another important thing is that Germany clearly states that it stands behind Bosnia and Herzegovina, that a better future for Bosnia is in Germany's interest,” Ahmetovic said responding to the controversies that have arisen in the public because of the aforementioned resolution.

He added that democracy must also withstand controversial discussions.
“We clearly say that the European path for BiH is currently being blocked by the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH), their leader Dragan Covic, and this is something that has perhaps caused a slightly more negative reaction in the Croatian government because the HDZ is in power there,” the German MP said adding that this is not the case only in Germany, but that Johann Sattler, the EU ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, also thinks so.

Ahmetovic said that with the resolution he is fighting for a European BiH, criticizing the ethnic principle according to which BiH currently functions:

“For the past 27 years, it has been the foundation of BiH’s political system and what is the result: that the country is politically in the same state as it was at the beginning of the nineties. We cannot be satisfied with that. That is why I say that the ethnic principle of that state, with the constituent peoples, didn’t work and that is why there must be a European principle.”