CORRECTION OF FALSE CLAIM First demarcate borders with Serbia, then Konaković ratify and sign agreements!

(Patria) - The borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serbia should first be demarcated, and only then should ratification be addressed through a bilateral agreement. 

This, in fact, along with resolving issues of jurisdiction and state property, is the substantive issue concerning the "Buk Bijela" HPP project.

This is a correction of a false claim made by the President of the People and Justice party, Elmedin Konaković, in an interview with Klix, in which he stated: “Let's go project by project. Buk Bijela is a hydropower project with serious potential that can only be realized if BiH and Serbia ratify and resolve the border issue, primarily resolve their relations. If the concession commission at the state level assesses that it works and we actually rename or confirm the appointment, if the BiH Parliament makes a decision to proceed with that interstate agreement, which we are absolutely ready for, and then within BiH, between the entities or two power utilities, we agree on investments and profit sharing. In talks with partners from the RS, it seems to me they are ready for that, and that is the only possible path.”

However, as with some other issues, it is evident that the leaders of the "troika" and the parties around that axis do not consult experts, but rather reduce these matters exclusively to the political field. Borders must first be established, i.e., demarcated as determined by the Badinter Commission. These borders are guaranteed to us under those from Yugoslavia, i.e., they are AVNOJ borders. 

But what the "troika" tells us, and what Konaković himself stated, is exactly what Serbia is demanding. Serbia demands an exchange first, and that is resolved through bilateral agreements. 

For Bosnia and Herzegovina, it will be very bad if we first enter into a concept of exchange and then demarcation, and that would mean abandoning the AVNOJ borders, which Badinter guaranteed, and we must not abandon that. 

That is an anti-Dayton approach and would represent a new de facto situation. 

According to the appeal submitted to the Constitutional Court of BiH regarding the "Buk Bijela" HPP project, the entire project in this dispute encroaches precisely on the violation and neglect of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state of BiH, and establishes a sub-sovereignty of the sub-state administrative arrangement of the RS entity to the detriment of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.