NOTHING WILL COME OF REDRAWING CONSTITUTION - REPUBLIKA SRPSKA IS CONSTANT

PALE, SEPTEMBER 9 /SRNA/ - The Association of the Creators of Republika Srpska said, regarding the proposal by the Croatian National Council /HNV/ of BiH to establish 10 cantons in BiH and abolish the entities, that there would be nothing of the futile attempts to redraw the Constitution and that Republika Srpska is a constant.

The Association said in a statement that the HNV BiH proposal, 30 years after the end of the bloody conflict in BiH, fundamentally undermines the already damaged Dayton Peace Agreement and all the principles on which peace and the new constitutional organization of BiH were established.

In essence, they said, this is an attempt at a new deception of all three peoples in the country and a purported alternative to a so-called civic, but in fact unitary, BiH.

The Association said that, as far as the Serb people in BiH are concerned, nothing would come of their futile attempts to redraw the Constitution, because Republika Srpska has been a constant and an indisputable fact for more than 30 years, and the lives of the best sons and daughters have been built into its defense.

"The only thing we can discuss and try to agree on is how to restore the competencies forcibly taken away from it by the High Representatives and guaranteed by the letter of Dayton, so that Republika Srpska’s continued existence within BiH has a long-term purpose and ensures peace and stability in this country and the region," the statement said.

Members of the Association said that unresolved or poorly defined relations in the Federation of BiH /FBiH/ between Bosniak and Croat political elites are the main cause of BiH’s dysfunction and loss of perspective.

"Whether this is due to unfulfilled foreign promises made to the Croats immediately after the signing of the so-called Washington Agreement, or to the persistent reluctance to accept the concept of a three-entity organization of BiH, will be shown by time, as well as by changes in the balance of power in the global world," the statement said.

The Association expressed the expectation that Croats and Bosniaks would reach an agreement within the FBiH on either further cantonization or some form of delineation in order to function better.

"And leave Republika Srpska within its entity boundaries and with its competencies alone. We have more important work to do after these elections, namely to focus on our own development and improving the quality of our lives, especially the lives of our youth," the Association of the Creators of Republika Srpska said.

It stressed that Republika Srpska is, first and foremost, and above all, for the Serbs, while BiH is only possible on the basis of the original Dayton Agreement.

"Everything else will not pass!" the Creators of Republika Srpska said.

The Croatian National Council of BiH expressed support for the proposal by Austrian Günther Fehlinger to establish 10 cantons in BiH and abolish the entities.