Izetbegović: Čović has degraded the chances of reaching an agreement

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović, after leaving the EU Delegation building in Sarajevo where negotiations on the Election Law have been held for four days, said that  "there may be a solution if there is enough wisdom to take a small step forward."

He added that he will meet with US representatives in the afternoon, and that a strategic mistake was made at the beginning.

“I think a strategic mistake was made, negotiations were persistently held with HDZ and SDA, and insufficiently with opposition and other parties. Everyone should have been involved, this way an impression is created that something is being done behind closed doors without them, and that entire bloc, which should raise its hand the next day, is justifiably angry, and they are given the opportunity to say that something is being agreed behind closed doors in a narrow format, but nothing has been agreed so far and it will have to continue in a broader format, I think in mid-December. All parliamentary parties and their representatives will have to be included in further talks,” said Izetbegović. 

He said that he also told representatives of the international community that such an approach can only provoke speculation, interpretations, and prevent or greatly reduce the chances of reaching an agreement.

Izetbegović added that not everyone was willing to resolve the issue of the Federation of BiH at this moment, and that it started to be addressed today. When asked if this is in favor of HDZ, Izetbegović said: 

“They insist on resolving the issue of the election of the Presidency member in a way that Croats in BiH have a decisive role regarding one of the three. To find a way for the Croatian majority to elect one, to find some model. However, at the same time, they insist on deleting the prefixes, which Mr. Čović refuses. That even electoral units cannot have any ethnic designation. At the same time, I must say that they were not willing at this moment to resolve the Federation issue as well. The fact that the Federation started to be addressed today is the result of my pressure to work on that matter in parallel and for things to ‘stand on two legs’”. I cannot say that the foreigners are as one-sided as it seemed at first,” he added.

“What has been articulated through the Venice Commission and their representatives is that those prefixes referring to ethnic designations should be deleted and that blockades in the Federation of BiH should be resolved. All of that is acceptable to us for now,” adds Izetbegović.

Has a step forward been made?

“I think yes, in the very atmosphere and understanding of everyone that a step forward will be made. Other parties just need to be more significantly involved, this cannot be left only to SDA and HDZ. I have been asking for them to be included all the time, but Bakir Izetbegović cannot include them, only the negotiators from the international community can include them.”

When asked about the issue of legitimate representation, Izetbegović said:

“Tell me what legitimate representation is, and then I will say what I agreed to. I think Mr. Komšić is a legitimately elected person. It is about a completely unclear principle and an unclear formulation as interpreted by Mr. Čović. I asked the people from the Venice Commission to clarify whether there is anyone in BiH who is not legitimately elected, and I did not get an answer.”

When asked if he spoke with Čović after what happened in the House of Peoples, which faced strong criticism, the SDA president said: 

“I think he greatly reduced the chance of reaching agreements quickly. I said clearly: Mr. Čović, I persistently call on you not to do things that provoke Bosniak voters and the Bosniak people in BiH. If you had said that Croats, together with other patriots, will defend this country, you would have greatly increased the chance of reaching an agreement. This way, all those chances have been degraded. Even after the incident with awarding a medal to General Lisica, who committed crimes against Croats in Croatia, after which the Croatian ambassador to BiH was dismissed, Čović did not learn the lessons and made a serious mistake two or three days ago,” concluded Izetbegović.