Helez: There is a reason why the agreement between Dodik, Izetbegović, and Čović was conceived confusingly

SARAJevo, (Patria) – SDP MP in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina and party vice-president Zukan Helez said in an interview for the Patria News Agency that the document “Principles for forming government at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina” signed by the presidents of national parties in BiH was conceived in a way that leaves each of the three signatories the possibility to say they got what their voters can be satisfied with, although, Helez believes, the agreement essentially offers nothing useful for the citizens.

Helez simultaneously admits that the agreement is already achieving its desired effects, as it has managed to artificially create an environment in which the presidents of the three ethno-national political parties are presented as exclusive protectors of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The Election Law and the legitimate representation of the people are mentioned in the Agreement so that Čović can say he is the winner in these negotiations, while regarding the Annual National Plan for NATO, you can say it will or will not be sent (to Brussels),” Helez assesses, adding that the goal of national policies at this moment might be to form the Council of Ministers of BiH, but no further than that.

“At this moment, it is important for them to send a message to the international community that they are doing something, but nothing more than that. If you look closely, you will see that every local community program is more serious than what they offer at the state level,” said Helez, adding that he expects the signatories of the Agreement to soon start accusing each other of fraud, and again build their position with voters in that way.

The document signed by the presidents of SNSD, SDA, and HDZ, Milorad Dodik, Bakir Izetbegović, and Dragan Čović, on the principles on which they should establish government in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the beginning of September, ten months after the elections held in October last year, has not brought the three ethno-national policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina any closer. Some of the points from the Agreement are interpreted differently by the signatories, such as amendments to the Election Law or the future cooperation of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the NATO alliance.

Such an agreement was signed under the auspices of the Head of the European Union Delegation to BiH, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark.