High Representative Schmidt no longer has the credibility for his position, MEP Tineke Strik said in an interview with N1 on Wednesday, adding that by taking the decision to amend the BiH Election Law, the High Representative has sided with one of the policies on BiH.
Over 25 members of the German, Dutch and French parliament sent an open letter to the High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, to withdraw the recent amendments to the Election Law. The initiative came from Dutch MEP Tineka Strik, at whose request Schmidt will explain to the European Parliament the reasons for imposing changes to the Constitution of Bosnia’s Federation (FBIH) entity and the Election Law.
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“The Office of the High Representative Schmidt have enormous power in BiH because they can impose laws and that comes with great responsibility when using those powers and he was not responsible when he changed the Election Law on election day and on that day he ignored and disrespected the voters because they have to know the rules according which they vote. And one also has to give time to new representatives on how they will see the solutions and what the Law will look like. It was the worst possible moment for such a procedure, which shows that he doesn’t care about what citizens and voters in BiH want at all,” Strik said.
According to the MEP the problem is the moment when this decision was made, but also the content of the amendments themselves.
“Because it means that it fixes the number of seats in parliament and other functions in the country. This means that in a way it cemented ethnic segregation. This leads to ethnic divisions and I think it is dangerous, I think the country is too divided on the basis of ethnicity, and I think we need to move forward towards an inclusive society where every citizen and vote has the same weight. In this way Schmidt somehow calmed the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH) instead of looking for solutions that would lead the country forward. He thereby created an obstacle for the newly elected politicians to work constructively together. The European Parliament has no power or authority over the OHR and Schmidt. The Peace Implementation Council has that power, but I think it's important that we send a very clear message,” Strik told N1.
She tried to apply Schmidt's decision to the Netherlands, saying it would mean that one group of orthodox believers is always guaranteed a minimum number of seats in parliament regardless of how many people vote for them.
Strik believes that Schmidt did not come to this decision alone and that there were a lot of preparatory activities from the United States and Croatia.
“And of course, we know that Croatia is not a neutral country in that sense, it is very vocal in the defense of the Croat part of BiH and that in itself should have shown Schmidt that he should remain neutral, and I think that by doing this he has sided with one side, and thereby endangered himself and the unity of the country,” Strik concluded.
