Izetbegović: The political abortion called the Trojka offends, humiliates, and disappoints us in some way every day

(Patria) - SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović was a guest on Federal Television's Dnevnik D tonight, where he spoke about numerous current topics.

Leaders of the Western Balkan countries and top EU officials will not come to Neum on December 4 and 5. The summit has been canceled, the tender has failed. Have we disgraced ourselves as a country?

- We have greatly disgraced ourselves and shown an inability to organize such an event. I think the disgrace will continue because it will likely be shown that the contract was awarded to an irrelevant company. We assume that some documents were falsified to allow this company to get the job. From what I gather from the media, it is very suspicious.

Furthermore, what is quite clear is that they started very late. They did not count on appeal deadlines and the possibility of the process being halted because of them. Irresponsible, extremely so. This is a diplomatic fiasco.

Should someone be held accountable?

- Well, of course, they should. An investigation should be conducted to determine who is to blame for all of this. A principled Minister of Foreign Affairs would offer his resignation after this.

On December 4, there was and still is a new deadline for BiH to adopt the Reform Agenda necessary for the first tranche of the Growth Plan. You have been criticized that SDA is to blame for this not being adopted so far.

- I have not recognized such criticism because it would be very unserious. Namely, SDA gave its conditional consent, on the condition that the Constitutional Court be filled, that its judgments be implemented, and that the ethnic veto in the decision-making process in these bodies be abolished. Brussels requested the exact same thing. So, that is their condition. SDA or the prime ministers from SDA did not invent this.

So, I have not seen serious criticism directed at SDA. There have been some attempts to spin things to shift responsibility from themselves and Dodik, but I wouldn't say anyone believed it. What is interesting is that they involved the opposition at all, and that they involved the cantonal prime ministers at all. But they didn't have to do that at all.

Is the consent of the cantons needed?

- No. They created this themselves in a body where they seek decisions by consensus. Why they are doing this - there are two reasons. One is that HDZ persistently insists that any discussion must have the consent of the cantons. Because they have the main strength in the cantons. So, that is HDZ's interest. And they involve them where it is needed and where it is not.

The second reason is to share the public's anger, if certain concessions, certain relaxations, are adopted at Dodik's dictate, then the opposition will also be an accomplice. Thus, they dilute the responsibility in this way. They are not prepared to bravely exercise power.

They fought very bravely for power, and very energetically, and now that they have obtained it, they are looking for ways to share it with the opposition. The pressure that will arise, because I fear there will be further concessions, is that Dodik will win this game of nerves with them.

What is the role of the international community in this? You had meetings with seven ambassadors from EU member states and with Soreca. What did you discuss at that meeting? Was this meeting about the Growth Plan and support?

- Among other things. These seven who came to me, in a way, wanted to tell me that they believe SDA, in general, should get more involved. That they respect SDA, that they respect the will of the people, which has been expressed for the second time in these elections, as SDA has dominantly won in BiH.

That the strongest and fastest-growing party cannot simply be ignored. That it is needed as an engine in all these processes. Foreigners always start principled, firm, and then when they encounter a firm response from Mr. Dodik or the Dodik-Čović alliance, they start to back down.

These conditions are completely logical. The Constitutional Court must be filled, judgments must be implemented, and there cannot be an ethnic veto where you must have a Serb, a Croat, and a Bosniak agree on everything that is done.

So, that is a completely illogical thing and contrary to the principles and standards in the EU. They wanted to remove these things. And then, I fear that they are now starting to back down. However, I am not sure. We will see.

The moment you said - foreigners are asking SDA to get more involved in these matters, how more involved?

- Generally, to be with it, to be consulted, to push where needed. In fact, I think they expected this - when compromises need to be made, we will say - people, it has to be done. I asked them to provide us with the new agenda if there is one, so we can see what it is about. All of this is just speculation, so I wouldn't want to say something I might be wrong about, maybe it's not like that, we'll see.

Is SDA ready to support a new, modified agenda?

- The opposition and the four cantonal prime ministers who are from SDA should not have been involved in the process. They should have been in power. They wanted power, they got power. So, if they ask us, if they decide to ask us, we will stick to our answers. You don't have to ask us. If you ask us, you will get an answer.

As far as we are concerned, the new document will go through consultations within SDA, but I think this will be our answer - that we cannot give up and say Dodik has won, let's agree to leave the Constitutional Court as wounded as it is.

Are you prepared to bear responsibility if criticism arises that 70 million was lost due to SDA?

- It's not just 70 million. We are talking about billions where half is a grant or a third is a grant, the rest is a loan. The reforms we need to adopt are very important, perhaps more important than the money itself, but they can pass them without us.

I cannot lie and say that SDA stopped it. Who is stopping them from the Council of Ministers making the expected decisions tomorrow? They don't have to ask SDA at all. And they don't have to force us to make such compromises and concessions with them.

If SDA were in power - how would you solve this problem with SNSD and HDZ?

- Well, we would play hardball. If they wanted to compromise and say - listen, we can't do this now, let's do what we can, then they shouldn't have set those conditions from Brussels in the first place. They set those conditions, and they shouldn't back down.

Sooner or later, they must sanction Milorad Dodik, a pro-Russian player, a man who destabilizes both Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans. The Americans started it, then they also slowed down at one point.

Until the international community decides to truly deal with what Dodik is doing, with his brazen attacks on them, on Dayton, on the Constitution, this country will not gain momentum on the European path. He, as a blocking figure, must be removed in some way, or stopped, or persuaded, or won over, but these constant concessions are turning the European path into a hostage of Milorad Dodik. Now they will give him the chief negotiator as well.

Do you see Dodik as the main disruptive factor when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina's progress?

- Absolutely. Does anyone else not see him that way? I think if Dodik hadn't done what he's been doing for the last 10-15 years, 50,000 fewer young people would have left this country. Pensions and salaries would be 20-30 percent higher. We would have 20-30 percent more investments. We would be in NATO by now. These are huge damages.

If the opposition from RS were in Dodik's place, do you think they would think differently on these issues?

- We had them. We had a normal group of people. And SDA was with them during that mandate. We didn't want to give in to Dodik, and he is very angry with us because of it. That's why he couldn't wait to get revenge on us, to oust SDA.

The Council of Ministers, at its last session, adopted salary increases for civil servants, but automatically also for ministers and parliamentarians. The law is such, but is it right, and why has this law never been changed?

- Well, we proposed, SDA proposed, and will propose again, to avoid salary increases that are too high. So, why increase a salary of 5-6 thousand marks? That's outrageous. Salaries should be increased for people who are struggling, who cannot keep up with inflation. They need help.

The Council of Ministers has recently made several decisions that have resonated quite a bit in the public. Money was allocated from the budget to purchase a building in Banja Luka. The owner from whom the building is to be purchased is controversial. Funds were selected to purchase helicopters, they are not combat helicopters, but they are multi-functional. How do you view such decisions?

- Regarding the helicopters, that is a cynical move by Mr. Dodik. The Armed Forces are not a charity, the Armed Forces must have armed helicopters, of course.

Is something better than nothing?

- That logic has its limits, it has its red line. An unarmed helicopter, how will you defend yourself with it? We had aggression that came from the east and from the west, and now these countries are rapidly arming themselves with very good weapons. The best planes, missile systems that reach 300 km. They are introducing military service, and we are acquiring unarmed helicopters.

Then we don't need the Armed Forces if they are unarmed. It is a kind of cynicism that should not be accepted. Dodik, as a good gambler, always outsmarts others, even people from the international community. At some point, a line must be drawn together with the international community and say - no more, you must behave normally.

I think one of the reasons they targeted me and SDA is because I opposed them like this. They were looking for someone who would try - let's lie that Dodik has changed. We remember that from two years ago, here Dodik has changed. SDA didn't know how to deal with Dodik, they opposed him. And here we have that experiment, a political abortion called the Trojka. And which, in some way, offends, humiliates, and disappoints us every day.

Do you see any crime or corruption in the case of the intended purchase of the building in Banja Luka?

- I do, of course. Because it was targeted from the beginning, they just didn't put the owner's name on it, that it would be a building in this and that location, approximately, with such and such parking, of that size, square footage. They could have built that building for the ten years we've been arguing about it. It would have cost less, of course.

Who will assess when the state buys something from a private individual, whether it is worth that much? If there is no competition, only one such building, 98 million, who will get 3%, 5%, 20% of that for mediating... of course, that is corruption.

Sanitation of the consequences of catastrophic floods, did the system fail or did it not exist before?

- It existed in 2022 when the tragedy occurred in Stolac. We had an emergency session of parliament then, decisions were made. This time they are running away from it. I don't know what their problem is. I really can't explain what's going on.

The government should have met day and night and the parliament should have been permanently changing laws, making decisions, and if necessary, passing a law for a month or two that would bypass certain tender procedures. They are afraid of ending up like Fadil Novalić, perhaps? That is the main fear. Well, they can bypass that.

They can invite ten of the most reputable companies, but they must do it legally. They could have done it, they had the means, they have everything, but they don't know how to exercise power and they are afraid to exercise power. It was somewhat comical with our Nikšić, who said he was partly proud and partly ashamed. I don't know what he's proud of.

Then he said there would be no more delays. From now on, he commands all of it. When a private individual from Turkey came to do what he hadn't done. I mean, unbelievable. They tried to replace the director of Railways, a capable man who everyone agrees, of course, has improved the Railways, to shift the blame to him, to make him some scapegoat, and then they appointed a man who was arrested a month ago, and then dismissed him the same day.

An incredibly clumsy government. Ineffective, indolent. Without compassion for the people, people are freezing in Vogošća. Those down in Jablanica are left out in the cold. They make one gaffe in the morning and another in the afternoon. Six gaffes have happened in these three days.

What specifically would you do differently?

- It's not the right question what we would do, but what we did. Mr. Novalić's eight-year term ended, and he was unjustly put in prison. Back then, Novalić and all of us together, we made a positive story out of everything. Strikes, dissatisfied pensioners, everything was resolved in those eight years. And now we see how they are ruining everything one by one. They are driving everything into the red.

Was the airport concession prepared during Novalić's government?

- Those matters were considered. Because when an airport like Banja Luka or Mostar is not doing well, it might be better to give it to a private operator on concession, so they can give something to the state for it, and increase its frequency. However, a lot of investment was made in the Sarajevo airport, even during Novalić's time, in new terminals.

Now we have an expanded and large airport in Sarajevo. So, a lot of investment has been made in it, and in 2021, a decision was made that the revenue going to the Federation budget would continue to be used for the renewal and expansion of the airport.

So, Novalić counted on investing in that airport, not on handing it over to someone. And that airport, which was once on the verge of profitability, and then started to generate money, has now become a golden goose. It should not be given away on concession.

The mandate of the US Ambassador to BiH is ending. You have exchanged quite sharp messages several times. How do you assess his mandate and engagement in BiH?

- I am interested in improving relations with the US as a very powerful friend of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the strongest party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, without which this country cannot move forward, and that is SDA. Excluding the main engine that led in everything, that pulled the state forward, was a grave mistake. Mr. Murphy should not have done that. I hope the next ambassador will have a different approach.

Given the recent events and circumstances in the House of Peoples, it is topical. Dragan Čović stated that he does not believe his colleagues from the opposition would vote for his removal from the Collegium if such a proposal were made. Would you?

- It all depends on Mr. Cvitanović. SDA would support his removal. I think these people should now consider whether they want to become leaders or remain in the shadows?