Čović and Čović’s associates: The goal is a third entity, circumstances and political partners change, but the foreign policy towards HDZ does not

By: Amra Vrabac

"If we have our third entity, we have a brilliant way to protect every Croat living outside that entity. We want to use temporary solutions regarding the Constitution precisely as a weapon to ultimately get our entity, our federal unit. It is important that it has executive, legislative, and judicial power, and what it will be called in BiH no longer matters," said HDZ president Dragan Čović in Switzerland in 2011.

What he said then has remained Čović's policy to this day. Sometimes to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the political partners with whom he forms a government, but the "third entity" is an idea that always lives in HDZ.

When negotiations on the Election Law intensified before the General Elections in 2022, with the mediation of the European and American administrations, Čović insisted that the FBiH be divided into two electoral units, i.e., five cantons with a majority Bosniak population and five cantons with a majority Croat population, based on which two members of the BiH Presidency would be elected, thus enabling HDZ to permanently have a member of the BiH Presidency.

Such a scenario was not accepted, and after the formation of the government with new political partners, the parties of the trojka (SDP, NIP, Naša stranka), Čović again began to insist on the BiH Election Law "tailored to the third entity."

The political program from which they do not deviate is often advocated in public by all HDZ cadres, both political and from social life. Among them is journalist Zoran Krešić, whose recent statements about "restoring Herceg-Bosna" after strong public reactions, forced the US Embassy to take a stance.

"I want Herceg-Bosna back! For me personally, for this people, Herceg-Bosna is sacred! I think everyone should be proud of it and everything it did. Regardless of the existing verdicts and court decisions. Honestly, I expect HDZ members and others in power to work on, to put it mildly, dismantling the Federation, on weakening it as much as possible, because that would be, at least if I had my way, a strategic interest of Croats," Krešić said in one breath on the show Zrcalo tjedna.

"His shameful calls for further division of Bosnia and Herzegovina and blocking the functioning of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are destructive, irresponsible, and inconsistent with building a common, multi-ethnic future within Euro-Atlantic institutions. Not only are his reported calls to restore Herceg-Bosna dangerous and anti-Dayton, they are offensive and regressive, but in our opinion, they make him unqualified for any position in the public RTV service. Political leaders must stop making agreements that undermine the functionality of institutions and ignore the interests of all constituent peoples for the sake of advancing their own narrow political interests," the US Embassy stated to Krešić, but not to Dragan Čović, who proudly marked the anniversary of the founding of HRHB on August 28.

In the same show with Krešić, the President of the FBiH, Lidija Bradara, was also a guest, who listened to Krešić with approval. And Lidija Bradara is the one whose friend is a convicted war criminal Dario Kordić, responsible for crimes in Ahmići where 116 civilians were killed, including women, children, and the elderly, the village was burned down, and mosques were razed to the ground.

When Bradara claimed during a guest appearance on N1 that Kordić "is no longer a war criminal" because he served his sentence, there were no reactions from the US Embassy. There were no demands for Bradara to be removed from her position as President of the FBiH.

"A convict who serves a sentence for any crime presumably ceases to be a convict, including for war crimes," Bradara said.

Another prominent HDZ member, Sanja Vlaisavljević, Minister of Culture and Sports in the FBiH Government, holds the same view. A few days after Lidija Bradara's shameful statement, she agreed with her and said that Kordić had served his sentence for war crimes.

"What do we do with war criminals after they serve their sentences? They must be rehabilitated," Vlaisavljević said.

In another recording that was released to the public, Kordić said in a cheerful tone that "he would do it all over again." However, neither of them was removed from office or faced any sanctions for supporting a war criminal. The only thing they received was police protection. They are regular guests at receptions of the US Embassy, European officials, or the OHR.

Perhaps the BiH Criminal Code and the amendments imposed by the former High Representative Valentin Inzko only apply to parts of the FBiH territory, because for "Čović's five cantons" and RS, this is not the case.

HDZ's policy is also shown by the fact that sanctioned Marinko Čavara holds the position of member of the Collegium of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament. Neither the blacklist nor the sanctions were an obstacle for Čović to nominate his associate for Parliament.

And everything Krešić said on the show with Bradara is actually the same as what Čović says. The HDZ president has never accepted the ICTY's verdict on the six accused for the Joint Criminal Enterprise. On the contrary, he is even grateful for the "historical dimension" of the creation of the so-called Herceg-Bosna.

"All those who try to comment on HZ HB, or the organization of the Croatian people, in that way, should really look at the historical dimension of what they did and acted upon... Then it will be easier to seek a common agreement, to design the space in which we live in a more appropriate, civilized way, unlike the time when wars were fought and solutions were sought for the problems or imagined strategies of one, another, and a third nation - Čović commented.

Therefore, HDZ's policy is unchanging and moves towards the goal of the formal restoration of Herceg-Bosna.

This will be a task for new political partners, and part of that plan is already being fulfilled.

Thus, Čović and his cadres have halted the Southern Interconnection project until a new company is formed, which will be managed by Croats and decide on gas, and "so that someone from Sarajevo does not decide on gas passing through the territory where Croats live."

It is superfluous to even talk about the opening of the highway section from Počitelj to Zvirovići under the patronage of Andrej Plenković, and the HDZ policy directed from Zagreb under the guise of BiH's European path, as the danger behind the hellish plan is seen by only a few.