Dunović: Schmidt will impose the budget, I am checking the property of the FBiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The guest of today's edition of the Rezime show on Federal Television was the Vice President of the Federation of BiH, Milan Dunović, who believes that all well-intentioned people expect the only logical decision from the Constitutional Court of BiH, which is that property belongs to the state.

"It has become normal for Constitutional Court decisions to be disregarded, attempts are made to deny them, however, this time the story is a bit different because we have a decision from the High Representative who is repealing these laws, and I think this is a step that Mr. Schmidt took not at 5 to 12 but at 5 seconds to 12. I believe that with this action, he showed that the Bonn powers can indeed be used. I think that in the coming period, the High Representative will be forced to make some other important decisions."

He points out that he would be happiest if we were a society mature enough to make decisions and move BiH forward through political consensus.

"However, we are witnessing that there are retrograde political forces that have a certain power on the ground and that are leading BiH towards dissolution. When the High Representative resorted to the Bonn powers, I believe that in the coming period, a moment will come when the High Representative will be forced to pass a law on the budget at the BiH level."

Dunović explains that what the SNSD passes, derogating state institutions, is just an attempt, that it is not valid.

"When they tried to pass those laws, they had already committed a coup d'état. Even those skeptics who thought it was not a coup d'état are now witnessing a moment in BiH's history where certain politicians, Mr. Dodik and the party he leads, are publicly stating that they will persist in carrying out a coup d'état. Two institutions can react in that case - the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the High Representative. We would be a much happier society if the High Representative did not have to make such decisions, but unfortunately, he is clearly forced to. The good thing is that he finally decided to go in that direction and that there is no dialogue with those who are actively working to destroy the state. I hope the Prosecutor's Office is monitoring the situation and will take adequate steps, but in a timely manner."

SNSD is pushing the citizens of RS in front of them as a human shield

Regarding yesterday's rally in Banja Luka, he says it was clearly a party rally.

"They started their election campaign a bit early. And they are doing something that is not unusual for SNSD, which is trying to push the citizens of RS in front of them as a human shield. I am sure that the citizens, voters in RS, will recognize that they are being pushed to the front lines like in a war, to be a human shield."

When asked what is happening in the Federation regarding state property, Dunović replies: "If the claims are true that there is property registered to municipalities that is actually state property, that must be stopped. Here, if I am not mistaken, it concerns two laws that are in a kind of conflict. These are the Law on Real Rights of the FBiH and the Law on Waters. Allegedly, the registered property, specifically in the municipality of Neum, was carried out based on the Law on Waters, which the Law on Real Rights absolutely does not support and that option does not exist. Someone deliberately used a loophole in one law to do it for their personal benefit or for the benefit of the municipality. I am also informing myself in more detail about this topic these days and, to be honest, I am looking for elements to see if there is any unconstitutional action. If there is unconstitutional action, I will go to the Constitutional Court of the FBiH."

When it comes to elections, he says that the positive side of the story is that the Central Election Commission (CIK) has very clearly announced that it will do its job within the legal deadlines.

"The first step they need to take is to call the elections. From the calling of the elections, the next 15 days are not on the CIK's plate but on the adoption of the budget. I am not optimistic that the deadline is possible, and I think the Minister of Finance, Mr. Bevanda, is trying to shift responsibility from himself and transfer it to the parliamentarians. We saw that the CIK announced lawsuits today as well. I think Bevanda's intention is to drag out this process for a few more days, and when the budget is sent to the parliamentary procedure, there will simply be no time to meet the deadline from May 4th to 19th, or certain delegates will vote against it, or be sick, in quarantine, or for any other reason, will not attend the session. If there had been a good intention to adopt the budget on time, it would have been adopted by now."

Implementation of the Zornić verdict would solve all problems

Dunović explains that the elections can only be blocked by not adopting the budget.

"And I believe that HDZ, through the Minister of Finance, is actively working on it. Fortunately, the High Representative recently used his Bonn powers, and we saw that he has both the legitimacy and the will to do so. I believe that the High Representative will have an obligation, if this stretching of time occurs so that the budget falls, to impose the budget. He has the right to do so. The CIK must have funds from the BiH budget to finance the elections."

He says he hopes he won't spend another four years in his current position because it is "simply not normal".

"The mandate is four years, after that there is continuity. Is it normal? No. Can it happen for the next four years, for the next 104 years? Yes, as long as we have political options in BiH that deliberately obstruct all democratic processes in BiH. They are doing it intentionally, consciously."

He states that the implementation of the Zornić verdict would solve all problems.

"According to that verdict, a citizen, regardless of which nation they belong to or not, whether they believe in God or not, that citizen, i.e., every citizen, would have the right to be elected to any position in BiH. Not to mention that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights explicitly state that the principle of constituent peoples was introduced into the Dayton Peace Agreement to stop the war and that there is no justification for not introducing the concept of a citizen in today's time so that everyone is truly equal."

Željko Komšić must run because he is a representative of a civic BiH

He emphasizes that ethnic parties are trying to say that citizens do not exist.

"That citizens are not as valuable as Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats. But that is simply not true. According to the Dayton Peace Agreement, we also have the High Representative, whom certain policies publicly deny, and we have even had death threats."

Dunović believes that Željko Komšić must run for the Presidency of BiH.

"It is his political obligation, in a way. From a human perspective, we must be aware that it can never be easy for any politician who endures constant verbal and political attacks. But politically speaking, Mr. Komšić must run because he represents a civic BiH, which all citizens of BiH generally strive for. European values are civic BiH."

Dunović points out that the hostage crisis of the citizens of BiH has been going on for a very long time.

"We in BiH often mystify the international community and foreign ambassadors because we want someone else to solve our problems. The international community is often not as united as it seems at first glance. Domestic judiciary must start working. The hostage crisis has been intense for almost two years at the state level and four years at the Federation level."

Regarding BiH's neighbors, he says he thinks the best when talking about the citizens of neighboring countries.

"But I don't think anything good about the policies that aim to destroy BiH in every possible way and make it meaningless. What is happening from the political representatives of Serbia and Croatia is a fact that they are trying to deny the statehood of BiH on various topics and in various ways. One of the methods that has intensified recently, and which Mr. Vučić patented, is that Mr. Vučić often states that reconciliation between Serbs and Bosniaks is necessary. I say that Serbs and Bosniaks are not at odds. We have a problem between two countries, Serbia and BiH. The President of the Republic of Croatia accepts that rhetoric, saying that he is the president of all Croats in BiH, but presumably not the president of all citizens of the Republic of Croatia who are not Croats."