KARAN: PROTECT SRPSKA'S INTERESTS THROUGH POLITICAL UNITY

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 16 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan said that the unity of political actors is the greatest strength of Republika Srpska, and announced that in the coming days he will invite all leaders of political parties in Republika Srpska to a meeting to demonstrate unity and act jointly at the level of BiH to protect the interests of the Republic.

Karan stated that the unity of all representatives of the Republic, especially in the joint institutions, is both a political responsibility and a constitutional obligation.

"The past 30 years can be characterized as 30 years of undermining the constitutional-legal position of Republika Srpska. It began from the very moment the Dayton Agreement was signed, remained concealed for many years, and the constitutional position that is strong, with strong autonomy and full internal sovereignty, is now being completely openly undermined," Karan told reporters in Banja Luka.

He reminded that this undermining was intensively carried out by all High Representatives in BiH, together with the Peace Implementation Council.

"They had an undisguised task to undermine the constitutional position by imposing laws and interfering with what is most important in a multiethnic, complex, federal country such as BiH, where the key element of its possible sustainability is the division of competences," Karan said.

He added that the division of competences was also the basis for signing the Dayton Agreement.

He reminded that the Constitutional Court of BiH continued to undermine the constitutional-legal position of Republika Srpska.

"Under the guise of conditions for BiH’s path toward the EU, a large number of international organizations sought every possible way to transfer competences to the level of BiH," Karan said.

He emphasized that the undermining of Republika Srpska's position continues today, and that the issue of excise taxes is also being misused to transfer competences.

"I call on all political actors and representatives of parliamentary parties, especially those at the level of the joint institutions of BiH, to show unity. It must not happen that representatives of Republika Srpska fail to act in unity when it comes to the level of BiH. All of them, both the government and the opposition, received their mandate from the citizens of Republika Srpska, and no one was given a mandate not to protect the interests of the Republic and the constituent people," Karan said.

He added that in the coming days, he will speak with representatives and political leaders of all parliamentary parties, in order to demonstrate unity and act jointly at the level of BiH.

"I believe and claim that in that case it will no longer be possible to transfer even a single competence to the level of BiH outside the procedure provided for by the Constitution. Through them, I will launch an initiative within that same parliamentary procedure to return competences, those that do not belong to BiH, meaning to give them the framework that Republika Srpska agrees to," Karan said.

He also called on the Federation of BiH, as a party to the Dayton Agreement, to engage in talks for joint action aimed at preserving the framework of that agreement.

"The Dayton Agreement has been undermined to such an extent that we can speak of the existence of a parallel, anti-Dayton BiH. That BiH, which was not signed in Dayton, is not a BiH of peace and stabilization. It is not a form of common life. The form of common life, peace, and stability for all citizens in BiH is the Dayton formula," Karan said.

He added that these are political and legal processes that Republika Srpska will undertake while guaranteeing security for all citizens of Republika Srpska.

"These are political and legal battles to which we have the right under the Constitution, to use all constitutional mechanisms to protect the vital national interest of both the entity and the constituent Serb people," Karan said.

The President of Republika Srpska reiterated that all representatives of Republika Srpska at the level of BiH must use every mechanism to fight for the interests of Srpska and the Serb people.

He added that citizens will punish through the electoral process all those who have not protected the interests of the Serb people.

"I will keep calling on them as long as I am here, until everyone sits at the same table and understands that there is only one political party - Republika Srpska," Karan said.