Čović changes tune: Ping-pong with Schmidt, from 'impose' to 'don't impose'

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

Not even a year has passed since Dragan Čović pleaded for Christian Schmidt to impose laws, to today when he says Schmidt should not intervene at all.

Following the principle of a buffet, such is Čović's policy, similar to Milorad Dodik's when interpreting the Constitution and the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Čović's change and insatiability are also hidden in his reference to the 'Mostar Agreement'.

Last year, on July 29, when asked if it was possible for political parties to reach agreements so that Christian Schmidt would not impose amendments to the Election Law, Čović said it was not. Of course, he was hoping for Schmidt's intervention then, and no eventual agreement was considered.

“We had enough time since the signed agreement in Mostar, two years. We clearly heard the representatives of the Bosniak people in Sarajevo these days talking about their tactics to prevent anything from happening, and if anyone expects something to be done in the next month, I think it is unfeasible,” Čović stated at the time.

And today, February 7, 2024, he is calling on the 'witnesses' to that agreement to help implement it fully!? And this in 'the next few weeks'.

And this inconsistent policy of Čović, in which he changes his tune, from 'impose' to 'don't impose', indicates that HDZ BiH, as well as the one from Zagreb, do not care at all about the interests of BiH citizens, but exclusively about personal, party interests, in which they do not give up on 'legitimate representation', linking it to BiH's path to the European Union. Thus, they link 'trojka', their partners in power, to the agreement from Bakinci, even though no one has released the recording yet.

Now Čović dislikes the possibility of Schmidt imposing the Election Law in the part called the 'integrity of the election package', which can be linked to BiH's path to Brussels, and he wants to package such amendments with 'legitimate representation'. He calculates that 'trojka', due to their desire for BiH to open negotiations for EU accession, will also push legitimate representation into such a package.

Given that Schmidt's previous impositions were done directly under the pressure of Croatia and Dragan Čović, it is becoming increasingly clear that he will not intervene this time, thereby definitively losing all credibility.

We remind you how leading politicians in Zagreb, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović, previously assessed that the German politician at the head of the international community had succumbed to the pressure of pro-Bosniak parties, and they expressed their expectation that he would still make a decision that would guarantee the equal rights of Croats and preserve the Dayton Peace Agreement.

And then it happened. Schmidt cemented HDZ BiH in power, with the need for the election of a member of the Presidency of BiH still pending, to definitively divide the Federation of BiH into two parts. They skillfully drew 'trojka' into the game, which is now in a stalemate. As, for that matter, is the international community.

Čović previously expected Schmidt to intervene to prevent, as he put it, the FBiH from turning into a Bosniak entity, and now he is going further, demanding that he endorse the division by not intervening!

Schmidt is on a special test, which he seems to have failed. On April 27, 2023, because of HDZ, he even touched the Constitution of FBiH, thereby enabling the new parliamentary majority (Trojka and HDZ + parties gathered around HNS, except HRS) to appoint a new Government of the Federation of BiH with Nermin Nikšić as Prime Minister.

He did this in such a way that the signature of one Vice-President of FBiH was not needed that day for the appointment of the Government of FBiH, only the President and one Vice-President. Thus, the signature of SDA's Refik Lendo was unnecessary that day, and the Federation of BiH got a new government. An imposed government, which is not an expression of the will of the citizens, but of Čović and the international community.