KOVAČEVIĆ: SUPPORT FOR SCHMIDT’S IMPOSED DECISIONS DAMAGES EU CREDIBILITY

BANJA LUKA, JULY 18 /SRNA/ - Radovan Kovačević, the Serb delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, described as shameful and scandalous the statement by the EU Delegation supporting the decisions of Christian Schmidt and the use of so-called Bonn powers, stressing that such support undermines the credibility of the EU in BiH.

Kovačević asked whether these are European values, where instead of domestic democratic institutions, decisions are made and imposed by unelected foreigners.

"Is this the rule of law they constantly preach us? That instead of democratically elected representatives of the people and citizens in institutions, decisions are imposed by a foreign tutor? In which EU member country does this happen? Where? Or maybe, if it doesn't happen in member countries, is there any country that has taken such a path towards the EU and led a European path? This is such a disgrace, scandalous," Kovačević said.

He told RTRS that the EU's support for the imposition of decisions damages the EU's credibility in BiH and distances the citizens of Republika Srpska from supporting European integration in any way.

"We have been on the European path for so long and have tried to do everything necessary to bring our country closer to the EU because we believe the Union is a community of free and sovereign countries. And what is this? We support the European path partly because we believe that the closer we are to the EU, the further Schmidt and such foreign tutors are from BiH. And what is this?" Kovačević asked.

He pointed out that the concession in the case of Vijadukt was granted by a prime minister from the opposition ranks to a shell company that had no accounts or employees, just to take money out of the country.

"Why? To extract money from the budget, from the citizens of Srpska, to go to some black funds. When we stopped that and built a power plant with state resources in a very short time, we then got the circus we now have, with the whole process being led by a law firm connected to the mayor of Banja Luka /Draško Stanivuković/. That mayor goes to Schmidt to ask for a solution, and then we get this solution and EU support for all of that," Kovačević pointed out .

Christian Schmidt yesterday imposed a decision in the case of the Slovenian company Vijadukt that foresees taking money from excise funds from the single account from the portion that belongs to Republika Srpska, as well as a decision for the Central Bank of BiH to provide funds for new technologies in the election process.