Bosnian politicians are expected to cooperate and overcome nationalism, to work in interest of citizens regardless of their ethnic affiliation, European Parliament member Tineke Strik said after the meeting with the deputies in Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity parliament. She also said she expected the alignment of stances on Ukraine war with the stances of the European Union.

Elections are ahead of us, we hope that citizens will chose economic programmes, Strik stressed.

The MEP also commented on the decisions passed in the entity parliament of Republika Srpska in December last year, aimed at transfer of the competencies from the state to entity level of authority.

It is the interest of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina that their political elites work on economic development, and not on the policies that are forcing the citizens to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina, she stressed, adding that this is something that needs to get importance unlike the nationalist policy which has no future in the European Union.

Strik also said she expects the alignment of stances on Ukraine war with the stances of EU.

We need support when it comes to the fight against Vladimir Putin and the Russian aggression, against autocrats and in the fight for the independent judiciary, free media, the MEP noted.

Denis Sulic, the Deputy Speaker of Republika Srpska National Assembly, said that the visit of European Parliament delegation to the entity institutions prove that they are “unavoidable factor” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

He said there were various stances presented among the deputies during the meeting but that the National Assembly remains committed to the EU, while the interests of Republika Srpska are fully honoured.

Sulic also said he asked that foreign factor does not interfere with the internal matters of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He emphasised that partners in Bosnia's other entity, the Bosniak-Croat shared Federation, were offered dialogue but there was no response.

According to him, the decisions that the entity parliament passed in December last year are in line with the Dayton Agreement and do not violate the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Strik disagreed, noting that the decisions do undermine Bosnia and Herzegovina, which cannot get the EU candidate status as long as those decisions are in force.

We condemn the RS National Assembly's decisions on these laws as they undermine the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stressed Strik.

The European Parliament's delegation previously met with representatives of the opposition in Republika Srpska entity.