Your Excellency Wadephul, you've wasted your efforts: Schmidt and his arbitrariness are the past, condolences to Zagreb!

By: Rasim Belko

After it was stated at the last session of the United Nations Security Council that international interventionism in our country is ending, which de facto narrowed the possibilities for Christian Schmidt and the OHR, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul arrived on Sunday.

Although this is the first visit as part of the Balkan tour of the German Foreign Minister, it seems as though he only stopped by Bosnia and Herzegovina with one goal and that it was added to his itinerary later. Because the diplomatic activity of the Foreign Minister of one of the leading EU countries was extremely brief. He only met with High Representative Schmidt and member of the Presidency of BiH Željka Cvijanović.

Everything was done hastily, at a time when two out of the three members of the Presidency are out of the country, and with them, the head of BiH diplomacy. And in this haste to stop by Bosnia and Herzegovina lies the real reason for Wadephul's visit to our country.

Because Schmidt, along with his Bonn powers and his work so far, has been "riddled" in the Security Council, and the message from the American representative was the final touch, which clearly worried the German government.

Even the fact that the EU representative in the UN Security Council was slightly milder than the American delegation clearly did not satisfy Germany, for whom Schmidt's remaining at the head of the OHR is primarily a geopolitical interest, and therefore they decided to support him in this way as well. The meeting with Cvijanović undoubtedly aimed to soften the offensive from Banja Luka against Schmidt.

And that Germany is concerned about the possibility of Schmidt leaving can be concluded from what was said at the press conference at the OHR, when Wadephul clearly stated: "Mr. Schmidt is responsible for implementing the civilian aspect of Dayton, and this is of utmost importance." Therefore, only Germany is left to stand behind Schmidt, because that former EU giant has clearly realized that it is slowly losing its compass in the Balkans and is becoming less of a decisive factor.

That country once led processes in our region and clearly wants to preserve at least one position from which it can act. What must be clear, and what some "analysts" in BiH have clearly not understood, is that Germany is not protecting Schmidt for the sake of BiH, but for its own interests.

There is actually no interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina here. Whoever wishes, let them analyze the projects that Germany has led in the region in recent years, and it will become clearer to them. For example, anyone who thinks that Germany's support for Schmidt is well-intentioned towards BiH should look at the epilogue of their operation "let's overthrow Milo, even if it gets worse".

Montenegro is still recovering from that operation, because it is much worse, and it is questionable how much longer it will take to recover from German actions in cooperation with the pro-Vučić opposition.

Any similarity with BiH is not a coincidence; it is a copied modality, and Schmidt was one of the key players in the project "as long as it's not SDA, even if it gets worse". And it has gotten worse, and Germany is fighting desperately to keep the man in his position so that they can continue to make our lives difficult.

Despite the fact that the leading country of the Quint and PIC strictly, without reservation, states that the end of Schmidt's interventionism is near, Wadephul clearly hoped that by coming to the field, he would preserve Schmidt's strength.

This could rightly be interpreted as open hostility by the pro-Bosnian political parties, given that Christian Schmidt is almost completely openly playing in favor of neighboring Croatia and its political outpost in BiH in the legal form of HDZ BiH.

Therefore, the support of official Berlin for Schmidt is also support for his actions contrary to the interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in favor of official Zagreb and Dragan Čović, which has proven to be extremely bad for our country with far-reaching consequences. Today's American administration has clearly understood this, so until the status of the OHR is resolved, it does not want new adventures of the German diplomat driven by Zagreb.

And that diplomat was a fierce opponent of introducing the rule of law and democracy in BiH, i.e., one of the leading players in overturning the first-instance verdict in the case "Slaven Kovačević v. BiH". By overturning that verdict, an embargo on democracy in BiH was effectively introduced for a certain period, so I wonder if Germany and its minister Wadephul support that, while telling us about opening the door to the EU.

We are not that backward, gentlemen Germans, we know very well that without the rule of law and the rights of all citizens, the door to the EU for BiH will remain locked.

Therefore, it is necessary for Germany to finally understand that Christian Schmidt, with his Bonn powers in his briefcase, is the past, at least as far as more serious activities are concerned. And when they understand that, they should draw his attention to the fact that he is a German diplomat on a mission in the OHR, not an alter ego foreign minister of BiH, as he has behaved for almost his entire mandate.

The Americans will not easily change their view on Schmidt, the OHR, and the Bonn powers, so Wadephul's visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina can be considered a futile waste of time and resources.