Slovenia is following the developments in Bosnia and Herzegovina with concern and the priority should be de-escalating the political crisis, Slovenian Foreign Minister, Anze Logar, told N1, but did not clarify whether his country would support EU sanctions against Bosnian Serb political leadership.

“We are following with concern the events in the Western Balkans, especially Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Logar said, adding that he spoke to BiH Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic, who warned about the inflammatory rhetoric in BiH.

Logar noted that the reason for the political crisis in Bosnia is the initiative of Bosnian Serb political representatives to withdraw the country’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity from state institutions and that this prompted stronger engagement of the European Union and the United States and talks between their representatives and those involved in the issue.

“My principle is that we will discuss this in detail with the foreign ministers of the European Union, and before that discussion, I think it is not reasonable to further influence these relations in any way with any comment,” he said, but added that Slovenia supports Bosnia’s territorial integrity and called on political leaders in the country to work on de-escalating tensions.

Logar would not clearly answer whether Slovenia would support the introduction of sanctions against BiH Presidency member and leader of the ruling party in the RS, Milorad Dodik.

“This discussion has not yet taken place at the level of the European Union,” he said.

However, Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, has already made it clear that his country will not support EU sanctions against Dodik and his political circle.

“If Hungary has announced that it will not support sanctions from the point of view of the EU, those sanctions cannot be introduced because the consensus of all member states is needed,” Logar said.
“Our main concern is the first de-escalation in BiH,” he said, noting that the European Union has defined 14 key issues where BiH must implement reforms in order to achieve EU candidate status and that Slovenia has during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union always encourages BiH to take the necessary steps forward.