No agreement, File did not appear before journalists

Half an hour past midnight, after a nine-hour meeting with European Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan File, the leaders of three parties (SBB, HDZ 1990, and SDP) and SDA Vice-President Bakir Izetbegović addressed the journalists. Stefan File did not appear before the journalists, nor did he provide any comment on the meeting with BiH politicians. The first to address the present journalists was the President of the Alliance for a Better Future, Fahrudin Radončić. In a brief statement, he said that "despite Mr. File's best intentions and efforts, we did not manage to reach a solution, which hinders us on the European path" - emphasized Radončić and expressed his belief that there will be new opportunities to finally resolve the Strasbourg court ruling in the "Sejdić-Finci" case. Radončić declined to answer journalists' questions.

Then, SDA Vice-President Bakir Izetbegović also addressed the journalists, expressing regret over the unsuccessful negotiations.

- We will return to the negotiating table and try again - Izetbegović stated. Commenting on the reasons for the lack of agreement, he noted that the problem was with the election of the members of the Presidency of BiH. The initial proposal was to divide the ten cantons into two groups. And these would not be fixed groups of cantons but "floating", i.e., variable.

- Croats asked for these cantons to be defined. This was not acceptable to Bosniak parties. In my opinion, these matters could have been discussed - emphasized Izetbegović.

When asked by journalists about other topics of discussion, Izetbegović said that he expected a discussion about the current situation in the country, protests, but the focus was on resolving the "Sejdić-Finci" case.

Martin Raguž, President of HDZ 1990, said that the leaders could not agree on two points out of the 14 previously agreed upon at the meeting in Brussels.

- There is an agreement to remove the ethnic prefix in the election of the members of the Presidency of BiH, but not to impose the electoral will, as that leads to discrimination - said Raguž. He further emphasized that there was no political will to find a solution that would open a new perspective.

- Mr. File has passed the ball back into our court - Raguž concluded.

What was generally agreed upon was that the members of the Presidency of BiH would be elected in the following manner: one from RS, and the other two from the Federation of BiH, with the first member having the highest number of votes in 5 cantons, and the second having more than 50% of the votes in the remaining five cantons. However, for the SDP president Zlatko Lagumdžija, such a solution is unacceptable.

- Ideas of drawing maps appeared, but that was unacceptable. Because of the people who are on the streets today, no one has the right to seek and accept a solution that would mean further division of the country, for their justified demands, in BiH and from BiH - emphasized Lagumdžija.

When asked by journalists who made such proposals, he did not specify his answer, but instead called on European leaders and Commissioner File to help in "overcoming the deadlock regarding the implementation of the 'Sejdić-Finci' ruling." He also expressed the need to strengthen justice institutions, the fight against corruption and crime, and requested a green light from the European Commission for a set of anti-corruption laws.

It was not explained to journalists why Commissioner File did not address them, only that a press conference would be held after today's meeting with the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda.