No political party in Bosnia did anything to contribute to receiving the conditional recommendation for EU candidate status announced Wednesday, the unofficial leader of the BiH Troika, Elmedin Konakovic told N1, adding that Russia’s aggression on Ukraine contributed to this decision.
the High Representative for EU Foreign Policy and Security Josep Borell said Wednesday that the conditional recommendation for candidate status is an opportunity for the newly elected leadership in BiH.
Konakovic said he recognized the Troika concept and the changes that have been seen in the Sarajevo Canton in Borrell’s statement.
“I think that this is a message addressed to us, that it’s a model that has been proven to work,” Konakovic said and continued to elaborate on what led to the recommendation:
“Absolutely none of us contributed with any act or deed, except for the meeting in Mostar and the agreement between Democratic Action Party (SDA) and Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) that led to local elections in that city after years. I think the EU is doing it for its own sake. I think that after the aggression against Ukraine, they realized that a Russian project lives here, which could raise the level of Eurosceptics and turn this country towards Russia. I think they made that decision aware of that kind of pressure.”
Schmidt brought chaos
When asked of the international community’s peace envoy Christian Schmidt introduced additional chaos by imposing changes to Bosnia’s Election law and changes to its Federation FBiH) entity Constitution, Konakovic said, “absolutely yes.”
“By deciding to protect ethnicity, he really derogated one part of the election process in the FBiH Parliament. He strongly strengthened the ethnic in relation to the civic [option]. I must say he surprised us all with the part of the decision that says: 11 Bosniaks, 11 Croats and 11 Serbs. It is really a strengthening of the ethnic in relation to the civic. Not only did he bring chaos with that decision, but he completely derogated our concept by derogating the election list. I have a suspicion of some conspiracy theory,” Konakovic noted.
He pointed out that abolishing the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, would be bad at this moment.
“At this moment, abolishing the Office would be bad, and for the future [of this country] it would be great if no Commander-in-Chief who is not a Bosnian-Herzegovinian would make decisions for the country ever again. One of the final priorities would be abolishing the OHR. We don’t have strong institutions that could protect this country, they are dilapidated and we need some time to restore them. We all talk to ambassadors. We never received support for uniting the opposition, it was a project based on the Sarajevo story that colleagues recognized and joined.”
The so-called Troika are the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Our Party (NS) and Konakovic’s People and Justice Party (NiP). These three joined forces in the Sarajevo Canton in an attempt to remove the ethnic-oriented, centre-right Democratic Action Party (SDA) from power by joining a coalition at the cantonal level. Having the coalition worked and produce results that the people of Sarajevo recognised, they further developed their cooperation by sticking together at the general elections in BiH held on October 2. when they won just enough votes to compete with the SDA for the formation of the government at the FBiH and state levels.
Reasons for OHR staying in the country
Speaking about the reasons for the OHR’s presence in the country, Konakovic mentioned Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) who is known for his secessionist rhetoric and unconstitutional laws passed by his party on the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity that were annulled by the BiH Constitutional Court and the High Representative:
“Dodik's behaviour is the biggest reason for OHR's stay, so he is feeding that story about them staying. As long as he is like that, the OHR is here to stay. He should normalize his behaviour if he wants the OHR to leave. For us, state property is a priority in such a way that the decisions that are taking place in the RS must be immediately repealed. State property is the property of BiH and no one can own it in land books or cadastre. When it comes to the Election Law, it is a political priority rather than a substantive one.”
Government formation and election results
Konakovic was then asked if the HDZ BiH is necessary for the formation of the government, to which he replied positively.
“That's right. We haven't specified anything yet. We’ll talk with parties that are parliamentary, that agree to the concept that we cultivate, transparency, our project and finally the distribution of positions. We will talk with the HDZ as an indispensable partner. We publicly said that we aspire to be in power, bring new energy and protect [BiH] institutions. We neither offer ourselves nor flatter anyone in particular,” the NiP leader said.
When asked when he would sit down with the HDZ BiH leader Dragan Covic, he said:
“Probably very soon. We are waiting for this sluggish and suspicious Central Election Commission (CEC). We’ll ask for a new recount of ballots, of which there are more than 400 thousand. We will demand a new count of all the votes at all levels of government. We will submit a request these days. There are deadlines after the CEC publishes their results, the request is submitted within the legal deadline when you get the results. The CEC ordered a recount in the RS based on its assessment, and not on the opposition's request,” said Konakovic and added:
We will submit a request within the legal time frame for the counting of invalid ballots and for the counting of all votes from the cantonal level to the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament. A huge number of votes are at stake. Look at the Tuzla Canton (TK), look at the preferences of individuals. Polling stations were locked. Some things have never been seen”.
“We will ask for a new count, if final anomalies are found, we can ask for repeat elections,” Konakovic concluded.
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