Komšić: DF will not leave the Council of Ministers alone, Dunović will not resign

Second part of the interview for the news agency Patria with the President of the Democratic Front Željko Komšić.

FIRST PART OF THE INTERVIEW Komšić: Izetbegović gave Čović everything, the rounding off of so-called Herceg-Bosnia follows

PATRIA: If DF leaves power at all levels, including the Council of Ministers, do you share the opinion of political analysts and the public who believe that with your departure and the entry of SBB, Dodik's SNSD will be introduced instead of the Alliance for Change, and that the story of finalizing the division of this country can begin?

KOMŠIĆ: DF will not leave the Council of Ministers alone. That is, there is a situation when that can happen – when the Council of Ministers makes a decision that we believe would be deeply harmful to BiH. In that situation, it would be pointless to be in such a Council of Ministers.

Izetbegović knows this too, because I told both him and Bosić. Both DF and I personally are ready to defend the current composition of the Council of Ministers as long as we can. We are aware that we are not strong enough, because we do not have enough votes, to do it alone, but we will defend it until the last moment, that is for sure. Except for the situation I already mentioned, where the Council of Ministers makes a decision harmful to the interests of BiH.

The key is in the hands of SDA, for the simple reason that they have the most votes and the most representatives in the BiH Parliament. It even sounds a bit absurd, and I've already told Izetbegović and Bosić this, that in the end it's not even important whether DF is part of the Council of Ministers, but it is fundamentally important that SDA and the Alliance for Change remain together in the BiH Council of Ministers.

And I also told them that DF achieved its main political goal the moment we managed to remove Dodik from power, and connect SDA and SZP. Of course, this could not have happened without the will and desire of SDA and SZP, but it happened when we told SDA that they could count on us in power only if Dodik was not in it and if it was SZP. That's how the Council of Ministers was formed.

Čović opposed this, but he had no choice and had to agree. Among other things, for this reason, Čović never signed the agreement on the formation of the Council of Ministers. Just as he never gave up on his original plan to eventually bring Dodik into the Council of Ministers and remove SZP. For that to happen, DF must be eliminated first. SDA allowed him to do that in the Government of the Federation, and we will see if they will allow him to remove the Alliance for Change and DF, and bring Dodik into the Council of Ministers and the Government of FBiH.

If that happens, let others assess what follows. I know, but I'll let someone else say it.

PATRIA: You are often told by certain camps that you are an unserious politician and that DF has no vision, program, or strategy? What do you tell them?

KOMŠIĆ: If that's the case, as they say, why do they pay so much attention to us? Why is everyone so fiercely against us, both Izetbegović and part of SDA, and Radončić and SBB, and Dodik and SNSD, not to mention HDZ? It is quite logical human behavior not to pay attention to someone unserious, someone without vision, strategy, etc. Who wastes time on such types?

I would rather say that we bother them, fiercely bother them! We stubbornly stand by what we believe in, we don't bend our backs, we don't bow our heads, they can't buy us with ministerial seats, they can't buy us with public companies, they can't misuse us to wage their dirty wars, which are not politically or ethnically colored but have only one color – the color of big money, they can't do anything to us. Nothing helps with us, offers, pressures, slandering...

In fact, what one of our critics, and mine, Mr. Izetbegović, the president of SDA, said might be true – DF simply bothered the Government of FBiH, and for the reason that DF tried to change the way power has functioned for the last 20 years. He said it in the form of criticism! And I thank him for that! That is actually the essence of everything. Does anyone in BiH need a better strategy than the one mentioned today? And a very serious strategy!

PATRIA: How far has the talk about uniting the left, DF, and SDP come? Are preparations for next year's local elections underway on that basis?

KOMŠIĆ: These things are moving almost naturally, if one can say so. I think a joint appearance of DF and SDP in the local elections is likely, in terms of supporting joint candidates for mayors. The party lists will be separate, and both DF and SDP will have separate lists, but I believe our candidates for mayors will be joint. We still need to agree on the details.

PATRIA: Will Milan Dunović resign from the position of Vice President of FBiH if DF decides to completely leave power?

KOMŠIĆ: No, he will not. The wishes of HDZ or anyone else regarding that position no longer interest us.

PATRIA: With which of the party leaders in BiH are you in most contact and with whom do you meet most often?

KOMŠIĆ: With Nermin Nikšić, the president of SDP.

PATRIA: It is attributed to you in political circles that you and DF are favorites of the international community, or rather, darlings of the US Embassy in BiH. Is that perhaps the reason why you have not yet decided to leave power?

KOMŠIĆ: We are not anyone's favorites. Quite the opposite, we are fiercely irritating to some representatives of the international community as well, such as Johantan Moor.

We are fighting to be the favorites of this nation, not foreigners. And if we agree with the official US policy on the essence and future of BiH, and if our political principles are similar or almost the same when we talk about what kind of BiH it should be and where it should be in the future, as is the official policy of the US Embassy in Sarajevo, then we cannot talk about some alleged favoritism by anyone, including the Americans themselves, but only about believing in some universal values that are necessary to apply in BiH as well.