Whoever hurried broke their neck: From the 'fastest formed Council of Ministers' to 'no coalition at the BiH level'

By Amina Čorbo-Zećo @aminacorbozeco

Since the appointment of the BiH Council of Ministers on January 25, 2023, the government in these past year and three months has experienced all phases of relations. The 'troika' parties NiP, SDP, and Our Party, along with HDZ and SNSD, initially celebrated the 'fastest formed Council of Ministers ever'. Today, this 'significant' timeframe for forming the Council of Ministers is hardly mentioned. More precisely, one side states - there is no state-level coalition. As our people say, what the devil brings, the devil takes away. Or, whoever hurried broke their neck!

"We talked about the real problems of BiH, about opportunities, and about the compromises we made at the very start of the fastest formed Council of Ministers ever," Elmedin Konaković said in February 2023.

The leader of NIP is prone to exaggerating everything, and by overemphasizing situations, especially when talking about the 'former' ones, claiming they didn't know, while the new government knows everything, he makes missteps (a habit from his sports days), and today it's difficult for him to explain what's happening in a situation where Milorad Dodik claims that a coalition at the state level doesn't even exist.

One could conclude that the 'troika' defeated themselves, and they idealized their relationship with Dodik so much that today they can hardly say a word that would absolve them of responsibility for Dodik's unchecked power. All illusions about a 'new European Dodik', which Edin Forto spoke about, and who today refuses to comment on Dodik's statements about where Bosniaks should live, have been extinguished. Even the green light for negotiations with the EU means little to Dodik, which doesn't surprise a large part of the public. However, the 'troika', believing in their own lies that compromise is the only way to act, didn't hear what Dodik was openly advocating for.

"Republika Srpska knows very well what needs to be done for BiH's progress towards the EU, and that is the fulfillment of all priorities, without exception. This means no foreign judges, no fake Schmidt, an agreement among the representatives of the three peoples is the key to all progress. Everything else is deception and a story for children," Dodik said.

He did not mention state property here, but he certainly considers that matter settled, especially if the foreigners 'evaporate' from BiH, who were also not consistent towards BiH.

But the 'troika', Nermin Nikšić, Konaković, Forto, the Americans, the Europeans, all of them skillfully convinced us that Milorad Dodik was some new European figure, and today they don't know what to say next.

We recall that Nikšić said in front of the cameras in January 2023, 'it's possible that we are wrong, and if it turns out that we will again be faced with blockades, none of us were born to be ministers or prime ministers – we can withdraw from power'.

Nikšić also promised an apology to the citizens then, which he has not yet offered, and it's not as if they haven't made mistakes. In fact, they are the biggest culprits for the current situation because they did not take Dodik seriously, even though every word he has said from January last year until today is very similar.

Dodik has been and remains the same old person who goes all the way, as he himself says, but the leaders of the troika don't want to hear what 'going all the way' means. Mirko Šarović will best explain this by saying that Dodik certainly doesn't mean technical changes to the Election Law.

The leaders of the troika, as well as their partner from the Federation, Dragan Čović, don't care much, which is expected from Čović, but for those who present themselves as pro-Bosnian parties, ignoring those who are destroying BiH is unacceptable. Especially since in their previous actions they fiercely criticized the former government, specifically SDA/DF, saying they were not ready for dialogue and compromises; now they are expected to show how it's done!

The fact that we received the green light for negotiations is not the true parameter of the situation, because internal relations have never been worse, and the security situation is more difficult. A small note, BiH doesn't even have a budget, and it's April.

Therefore, the organization of BiH and its constitutionality are much more important than the path to the EU itself, because the most important thing is how we will arrive there. I hope not in the way Cyprus arrived in Brussels.