Because power is power: Are Izetbegović and Dodik digging up "war axes"?

Speaking about the formation of government at the BiH level, Milorad Dodik emphasized that if SNSD is not part of the majority at the state level with its three delegates in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, it will be able to block the adoption of any law that is detrimental to the interests of RS.

He also reiterated that he does not want any kind of cooperation with SDA "as long as that party does not change its policies".

Milorad Dodik, President of RS

(Radio Sarajevo, 24.11.2014.)

…………………

The president of SNSD, Milorad Dodik, also stated that resolving the Sejdić-Finci ruling and a set of economic reforms that would move the country "forward" are certainly priorities.

Dodik said that he informed Izetbegović about the information that SNSD already has a government with partners in RS and that it should be formed by the new year.

(…)

He confirmed that he was told by SDA that they do not have a decision on who will be their partner from RS in forming the government, saying that "they did not come here to be inserted".

(Fena, 06.11.2014.)

Comment:

After the first post-election meeting of the SNSD and SDA delegations held on November 6 in Sarajevo, the presidents of these two parties agreed in their statements that there were no significant disagreements in opinions and positions at the meeting, and as Bakir Izetbegović stated, "they only agreed that the problem lies in the details". Among other things, Izetbegović and Dodik also spoke about the urgency of resolving the "Sejdić-Finci" issue, taking a step towards NATO membership, and the rapid recovery of the economy.

Although Bakir Izetbegović had emphasized just a few days earlier that he did not want SNSD in the state government, he held the aforementioned meeting with Milorad Dodik. After SDA signed an agreement with DF and the Alliance for Changes of RS, it became clear that Izetbegović was trying to avoid SNSD at the state level, and Milorad Dodik also commented, stating that he does not want any kind of cooperation with SDA "as long as that party does not change its policies".

However, although he made this statement on November 24, Dodik held a meeting with the "Domovina" coalition just a few days later, which includes SDA among other parties, which is absolutely inconsistent with his earlier stance. The inconsistency is certainly greater if we know that Dodik accused the opposition bloc in RS of alleged cooperation with this coalition during the pre-election campaign.

After this meeting caused a major debate in FBiH, primarily among the SDA and DF parties, members of the "Domovina" coalition, Dodik stated that the Domovina coalition would not be in the RS Government.

"Domovina is not in the parliamentary majority, and we have no intention of cooperating with those whose programmatic principles are based on the 'Prvi mart' platform," said Dodik, as if he had forgotten that he himself had invited representatives of this coalition to a meeting.

Then, the Domovina coalition stated that they were ready to join the RS Government, after which the DF reacted strongly.

Ramiz Salkić, SDA representative in the Domovina coalition, said after the meeting that they received approval for the meeting from the SDA Central Office.

"The negotiating team was coordinated with the 'Domovina' coordinator Vinko Jakić. He proposed that Lovrić be on that team, and on behalf of the Club, Bratić, who received the most votes among the 'Domovina' representatives. I was informed by the SDA Central Office that I would attend those talks as vice-president," Salkić said at the time.

After that, Izetbegović stated that although there is a possibility for the Domovina coalition to be in the RS Government, that decision will primarily depend on the positions of other parties that are also members of "Domovina", especially the Democratic Front, which had previously opposed any alliance with Dodik. With this, Izetbegović tried to ease relations within the alliance with DF, and at the same time stated that he did not want SNSD in the state government.

"At the state level, reform processes have been halted thanks to the behavior of Milorad Dodik and his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), and we will not form a government with them," said Izetbegović.

Therefore, in just one month, both Milorad Dodik and Bakir Izetbegović have gone from potential allies at the state or entity level to absolute opponents. It is impossible not to notice that this relationship has changed from day to day, and both leaders have made a large number of inconsistent statements, but also made a series of inconsistent moves, such as holding meetings after publicly refusing any kind of cooperation.

Thus, in this post-election period, we will not be surprised if these two leaders, after the fierce media war they are waging these days, do not bury the hatchet again and sit down at the same table, announced the portal Istinomjer, reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).