Čović's Political Acrobatics and Manipulations: Opposing the Coordination Mechanism to Seek a Third Entity

The agreement on the Coordination Mechanism and the IMF between the presidents of SNSD and SDA, Milorad Dodik and Bakir Izetbegović, has met with surprising disapproval from the leader of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, writes the Patria news agency.

In his initial reactions, Čović stated that the signed agreement was „a dead letter on paper.“ While on Saturday he called on Dodik and Izetbegović to sit down at the negotiating table, it is interesting that just a day later he tells a different story. Unless behind it all lies yet another well-conceived game by this top political manipulator.

Čović is bothered by the fact that the Coordination Mechanism eliminates cantons as decision-making factors. Given the idea of a „third entity,“ it is clear why Čović objects to the removal of the cantons' role. It is precisely through the cantons that Čović could block numerous processes, thus through blackmail or political trade, secure his own territory, which he has long since rounded off.

Interestingly, in an interview for the Klix.ba portal, Čović said that he advised the EU Special Representative and Head of the EU Delegation, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, not to get involved in the negotiations in this way. We recall that the meeting between Dodik and Izetbegović was held on Wigemark's initiative.

Better connoisseurs of the political situation believe that Čović is not sincere because he himself worked on the Coordination Mechanism.

Šemsudin Mehmedović, a deputy in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, told N1 that Čović's opposition to the agreement could lead to political instability in the Federation of BiH.

- I think this is throwing dust in the eyes, and that he also supports this Mechanism. Čović wanted to have brakes on BiH's European path if it does not suit some of his political goals - Mehmedović believes.

It is now clear that Čović will further complicate the situation on other issues as well, primarily resolving the holding of elections in Mostar and the status of the city on the Neretva River.

In this case, it turned out that Čović's motto is „divide and rule.“ The only thing he perhaps did not count on was that Izetbegović and Dodik would deal more with the Coordination Mechanism than with the IMF itself, where it was only necessary to put signatures on the Letter of Intent.