Bassuener: Time for the US to move from words to deeds in BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The revived interest of the US in the Western Balkans and primarily in BiH in this election year, in light of yet another political crisis of intimidation, is seen by many as a breath of hope.

However, Kurt Bassuener, a long-time Balkans expert and co-founder of the Democratization Policy Council, believes that the US policy towards the region has not fundamentally changed and that compromise with intimidation factors will simply not yield any results.

- Diplomatic engagement on both sides of the Atlantic in BiH and the region is focused on leaders and seems to be focused on trying to reach an agreement among leaders. Johann Sattler's latest statement was that we need compromise. And when you have a direct threat to the Dayton Agreement and a threat to peace, the answer should not be compromise. In that sense, the US engagement is disappointing, to say the least – Bassuener told Voice of America (VOA).

When asked if optimism should be sought directly in engagement with citizens, with civil society and strengthening civic initiatives, rather than with the deeply corrupt political establishment that led to this situation, Bassuener says:

- I completely agree with that and I tell your viewers that I have far greater confidence in the citizens of BiH, however they may identify. I don't see any negative energy accumulating there, but people are worried. They are subjected to predatory and parasitic leadership that we continue to treat as partners and as our main interlocutors. Today there is a positive step. Numerous members of the European Parliament, led by the representative of the Dutch Greens, Tineke Strik, met with civic actors today and were very vocal, as well as with institutions, which is also useful. I think there is a lot of room for work there. Corruption is obviously a big problem, and it is structural corruption that is the business model of BiH politics. People enter politics because of it. And then when we cooperate with leaders and talk about compromise, we are compromising with corruption. We accept it. And that is what people see and it cannot be hidden. In this way, we send a message that we are not fighting corruption, or at least not strongly enough. That we are willing to burn our bridges with the corrupt establishment.

Bassuener, however, believes that the international community would be much more effective if it used the powers guaranteed by the Dayton Peace Agreement, as well as the "Bonn Powers".

- The most powerful weapon that political elites are now using is fear, and it is free, it costs them nothing. There are no consequences. They are patrons of these ideas, and we are patrons of these politicians. And that is what bothers me about the entire 'Open Balkans' initiative, as a proposed solution for BiH, as Escobar said during his visit to BiH. We are actually treating a security problem with economic tools, which makes no sense. We are doing this in the hope that the idea will sell, and it is essentially a bribe. If we give more money, maybe things will improve, and that is a delusion. We have tried this before, without results. And so you try the same thing and expect a different result – Bassuener notes.

According to him, it is high time for US policy towards the Balkans to move from words to deeds and take concrete steps.

- We have great potential power. In fact, we have the power to push fear out of the whole story, especially in BiH, and we are not doing it. Instead, we are talking about compromise. When Gabriel Escobar says there will be no war – great – what will we do to prevent it? What will we actually do to make it impossible, because we can. And if we don't do it, then it's just talk – Bassuener concludes.