CVIJANOVIĆ: I EXPECT MORE BALANCED APPROACH FROM BRUSSELS, NOT JUST LISTENING TO POLITICAL SARAJEVO

BANJA LUKA, MAY 25 /SRNA/ - The Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović said she expected the European Union to take a fair approach toward BiH, rather than listening only to one interlocutor from political Sarajevo who cannot act independently without the agreement of representatives of Republika Srpska and the Croat community.

Speaking about relations between BiH and the EU, Cvijanović said the Union, through its bureaucratic messages, had "wronged BiH" and made decisions that were discouraging.

She said cooperation with Brussels is possible, but that issues need to be placed within realistic frameworks.

"We should focus on what truly constitutes the rule of law and how to ensure genuine rule of law, instead of pretending it is perfectly acceptable for Christian Schmidt to amend laws, even though this has nothing to do with European directives or the BiH Constitution, while acting as though everything is progressing normally", Cvijanović stated.

She noted that more dialogue is necessary and that many individuals had deliberately made statements at times when there was no need to complicate matters.

"I believe they were too accommodating toward Sarajevo and the conditions imposed by Bosniak parties and in the end it came back to hurt them as well, even though they wanted to record some progress and create positive momentum", Cvijanović said.

Commenting on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's proposal to accelerate the EU path of Western Balkan countries, Ukraine and Moldova, Cvijanović stressed that the proposal primarily concerns Ukraine and that little has changed regarding Western Balkan countries.

"The EU is operating in a difficult security and economic environment, with war on its borders and internal political disagreements, and they view us through the wrong lens. I believe the EU will present Montenegro and Albania as success stories", Cvijanović told RTRS.

She pointed out that the world has entered a new era and that some individuals within the EU are trying to respond to rapid changes by proposing "some sort of semi-integration, where you are part of institutions but cannot make decisions within them".

"The EU wants to adapt to these times, but it remains an inert and cumbersome system with enormous bureaucracy. What affects us most are the double standards and the claim that something constitutes the rule of law when it clearly cannot, as well as tolerating things that would not be tolerated in any other country", Cvijanović said.

She added that the greatest chaos in BiH occurred during the tenure of former US Ambassador Michael Murphy together with Christian Schmidt.

Commenting on Murphy's remarks regarding the US State Department report on the situation in BiH, in which SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović "was said to have at one point been prepared for the division of BiH", Cvijanović stated Murphy was trying, four months before elections, to help the "Troika" coalition remain in power and in some way protect himself, because the "troika" was the project they promoted.

She reminded that election results had suggested a completely different formation for the Federation BiH Government, after which Christian Schmidt intervened illegally and suspended the Federation BiH Constitution because, as he explained, “the Americans told him to.”

"I am not discussing what anyone may have promised. I am talking about the timingwhen this issue appeared. It appeared in an election year, as we approached the election campaign, and it is a political message intended 'to achieve' a political objective'", Cvijanović said.

She stressed that both US and EU representatives consider it important to preserve peace and stability in BiH because they are aware that "deep mistrust exists here" and that BiH functioned artificially through various interventions.

"Internal dialogue has been completely destroyed and some international officials claimed that mutual trust today is lower than it was several years after the war", Cvijanović stressed.

According to her, the EU does not believe in its own "tools", while US officials believe the solution lies in agreement among representatives of the constituent peoples in BiH and in taking responsibility for processes into their own hands.

"Both sides say stability and peace must be preserved, and for the first time in the past three decades there are no suggestions arriving about what should be done in BiH. Former US ambassadors used to say we must fulfill conditions for EU accession. Today it is different, and they are urging us to make our own judgments and decisions,” Cvijanović said.

Speaking about the upcoming first European Summit on Economy and Security to be held in Banja Luka, Cvijanović said the event is highly important for Republika Srpska because it will address issues important to everyone.

"The arrival of important figures from these fields can benefit all of Republika Srpska, especially in terms of economic development and stability. This is only the beginning and it will become an ongoing European-level activity connected with initiatives coming from the United States", Cvijanović stressed.

She argued that only in BiH is there a constant struggle for centralization, governance from Sarajevo and imposing rules, which she said points to insecurity and instability within the state.

"The institutions of Republika Srpska are defined by its constitutional competencies, they make decisions and manage processes. The same applies in the Federation BiH, which has cantons", Cvijanović said.