American Professor Daniel Serwer: Vučić is a Major Obstacle to RS Independence

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Daniel Serwer, professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, told FACE television that he expects RS President Milorad Dodik to call him a "Muslim mercenary" after this media appearance.

- Dodik will say after this interview that the Muslims are paying me. I don't need anyone in the Balkans to pay me for anything.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is a major obstacle to RS independence because he cannot recognize it and continue to be a candidate for EU membership. He doesn't want to join the EU, but it would be a great loss for Serbia to lose its candidate status.

There is no question of Vučić recognizing an independent RS. It is convenient for Vučić to criticize Dodik because he is under pressure to show less support for Moscow.

I wouldn't exaggerate the differences between Dodik and Vučić. I know that Vučić at one point wanted more control over Dodik, but I don't know how successful he was in that - Serwer said, as reported by Slobodna Bosna.

He says that Bosnia and Herzegovina's failure to move towards a civic state began in 2006 with the failure of the April Package.

- The failure of that constitutional reform of BiH has set it on the wrong path. I don't know how to get back from that wrong path.

I would be happy if someone revived the April Package, but I don't hear anyone doing that. The idea of strengthening local government would be the right path - Serwer assesses.

According to him, the idea of using Belgrade and Zagreb to dominate parts of neighboring countries is certainly a consequence of American thinking.

- This will lead them towards creating a 'Serbian world', a Greater Serbia... what Milošević wanted to create. It can also create a Greater Croatia. People in Washington are still going down that path - Serwer warned.