Išerić asks Plenković: Are you giving up on advocating for new ethnic divisions and weakening BiH through electoral law amendments?

By Enver Išerić

After a meeting in Zagreb with the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, and the President of HDZ, Dragan Čović, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated:

"Croatia strongly supports BiH on its European path and advocates for the opening of accession negotiations with the EU as soon as possible. We continue to advocate for the full equality of all three constituent peoples and the well-being of the entire BiH".

I welcome the advocacy of our neighbors and their support on our country's European path. It would only be good if they clarified to us, the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whether this means they are giving up on persuading and advocating for new ethnic divisions and the weakening of our country and its institutions, through the amendments to the electoral law advocated by HDZ.

Does this mean they will stop interfering in our internal affairs and that, as a member state of the European Union, they will insist on and demand strict implementation of all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights?

Furthermore, the Croatian Prime Minister's advocacy for the full equality of all three constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina should also be welcomed. This would practically mean that, as stipulated by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have a composition that reflects the ethnic composition of the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina, i.e., four Bosniak ministers, three Serb ministers, and two Croat ministers, which would mean abolishing the unconstitutionally established parity in the Council of Ministers.

This would further mean the employment of seven hundred Bosniaks in the institutions of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which, according to recently published data, are missing for them to be proportionally represented, as the Constitution dictates.

This would again mean that the number of Croats in the institutions of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be reduced, and the number of Serbs increased, and in Republika Srpska, the number of Bosniaks and Croats in institutions should be increased, in order to ensure full equality of constituent peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Of course, Plenković forgot about the citizens of our country who do not belong to one of the three constituent peoples, so he should be reminded that they must also have the same rights as Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats.

And one more thing should be said to Plenković: when you are a sincere friend to a country like Bosnia and Herzegovina, you do not hold semi-secret meetings only with members of one people and one party represented in power, but rather hold official and open meetings with state officials from all three peoples.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić does the same. You "killed" us with stories about the endangerment of Serbs and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the data speaks completely differently. The most endangered is the most numerous, the Bosniak people, and other citizens, who are denied access to the highest state and public positions.

The most endangered is the Bosniak people, who have suffered genocide, and whom they would most like to forbid us from mentioning, and it would be "desirable" for us to forget the genocide and other crimes and "join" the deniers of crimes and glorifiers of war criminals.

That will not happen. All these crimes and court verdicts will be studied, from kindergarten to university, in order to prevent any future attempt at crime against Bosniaks and to ensure their equality with Serbs and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

So, Mr. Plenković, that would be the true and genuine equality of all peoples and citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina. That would be the equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina with other sovereign and democratic states organized on civic principles.

That would be the equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia and Serbia, which are organized and function as civic states. These are our goals, which we advocate for and will continue to advocate for. This is in accordance with international law and its principles. And we will achieve these goals.

Only, before that, we will have to "knock out" of the heads of some political representatives the idea that human rights and the interests of the state are more important than their personal interests and the positions they hold.