Democratic Front: For us, the state is above party interests, and for you!?

(Patria) - Given that the signing of the Agreement on the constitution of parliamentary majorities between the Party of Democratic Action and the Democratic Front has caused a large number of reactions from the media, political parties and their leaders, and especially our ideological comrades, the Democratic Front addressed them, as well as citizens, with the following statement.

"While the Republika Srpska is forming a reserve police force, and Mr. Čović is reviving Herceg-Bosna, the SDP is dealing with the DF and fleeing into opposition. Power is not our priority. Our priority is Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are entering government, aware that we are making an unpopular decision. But between the party and the state, we chose the state, unlike our comrades from the SDP, who chose the party. What is obvious from all the reactions and what we are extremely proud of is that so far no one has had objections to the text of the Agreement itself, i.e., to the eight goals that certainly give hope to Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats, as well as Others and all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we believe that the implementation of the agreed goals will significantly improve the lives of people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We are obliged to explain that the Democratic Front has never been nor will it ever be a 'Bosniak party,' as evidenced by two important facts. Unlike the SDP BiH, whose president, general secretary, and party director are Bosniaks, who nominated a member of the Presidency from the Bosniak people, and who have a delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly also in the Bosniak Club, the president and general secretary of the Democratic Front are Croats, the president of the Main Board is a Serb, 22% of the members of the Presidency are Croats, 11% are Serbs, and 3% of the members are Bosnians and Herzegovinians and 3% are undeclared. Also, the Democratic Front nominated a member of the Presidency from the Croatian people who was elected, as well as delegated a Croat to the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly who was also elected. Even so, the positions of the Democratic Front are diametrically opposed to those of the HDZ, and it seems to us that the positions of the leaders of the SDP BiH are perfectly coordinated precisely with their positions, especially bearing in mind that the general secretary of the SDP said at one of the BH Bloc meetings that it is acceptable to enter government with the HDZ and SBB, but not with the SDA, which by the same logic would mean that the SDP is a Croatian party.

Certain statements by representatives of political parties are fascistoid and on the verge of hate speech, and we want to tell them that the only two things the Democratic Front wants to talk about are that all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina be equal and that all benefit from the eight agreed goals, and that the Democratic Front will represent all those whose Croatness, Serbness, or Bosniakness is discriminatorily denied, as well as all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jews, Roma, and Others who consider this country their homeland. What we have to say about the status of the BH Bloc is that we still maintain the position that it is a great idea that our comrades did not recognize and use in the right way, given that this idea represents at least 300,000 citizens who gave us their vote to enter government and represent their interests, and not to spend four years in the shadow of the opposition. You did not bring us into the BH Bloc, so you cannot take us out of it; the BH Bloc is not a bureaucratic creation, but an ideological one for which we fight regardless of the views of our comrades, and despite their opinion expressed on February 5, at the last meeting of the Bloc, when they said that we scare them so much with our arguments that certain individuals should put on camouflage uniforms (to be continued...), which is particularly disappointing because during the negotiations they did not mention disenfranchised workers, pensioners, demobilized soldiers, the unemployed, civilian war victims, pregnant women, young people, and many existentially threatened categories of society, whom they only remembered when we discussed 'Tuzla – the city of the case'.

Also, we consider it politically immature to miss the chance for the BH Bloc to participate in all institutions, as well as to be an unavoidable factor in deciding the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We still regret the fact that no one, either at official meetings or in media appearances, has explained to us the principled position of being in government at one level (Sarajevo, Bihać, or Goražde) and in opposition at another, nor what the difference is between the political parties with which the BH Bloc is currently in coalition and the SDA, which, as more or less criminalized parts, broke away precisely from that party, nor how some of those parties are more civic or less national than the SDA.

Finally, the program goals that are part of the Agreement are completely social democratic, and we take this opportunity to thank the Party of Democratic Action for accepting our goals and principles, and we inform all those who are worried about how we will negotiate with any party that could be in the executive government that they have no reason to worry, because the Democratic Front will use all democratic mechanisms, in accordance with the electoral legitimacy carried by the Democratic Front and its president, to fulfill the promises we made to the citizens of this country. For example, one of those goals, which is not in the agreement but was agreed upon, is the increase of subsidies for farmers from 68 to 168 million KM, but not in the way of 'half for us – half for farmers' or 'tractor for us – tractor for farmers' as was the case during former governments. After all, the time ahead will show the citizens of BiH what we will advocate for, and consequently what we will achieve, and it is up to them to decide whether they will ever vote for the Democratic Front again or not," the DF statement said.