Komšić responded to Dodik: States do not exist for statesmen, but statesmen for states

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - When we talk about previously adopted decisions related to the NATO integration process, it is not about, as Mr. Dodik points out, stances but simply about decisions of BiH institutions, decisions signed by SNSD officials as well, said BiH Presidency member Željko Komšić, Patria reports. 

The current Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, stated on Saturday that "some stances regarding NATO, which were adopted earlier, were not sufficient", because, as he said, "they would not be asking for it to be decided again and they would not be exerting pressure and conditioning the formation of bodies at the BiH level now."

Komšić had previously stated that his condition for supporting the appointment of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Zoran Tegeltija, as a member of the BiH Presidency, was the adoption of the Annual National Programme for NATO, which the Alliance requested from Bosnia and Herzegovina as a new step it must take on its path towards NATO membership. 

"Mr. Dodik persistently tries to equate institutional decisions and political stances. It is the same logic he follows when he says that, due to the changes that have occurred in the US in the meantime, his sanctions will be lifted. Because the sanctions imposed on him were not a momentary political stance of individuals, but were made at the level of state institutions. As if states exist for statesmen, and not statesmen for states," said Komšić. 

Therefore, the Presidency member stated, it is clear that above all, respect for decisions is required, not so much respect for stances.

"Decisions that have the force of law are binding, not stances. They are what is sufficient and only they should be respected," Komšić stated. 

He added that it is not true that he is asking for decisions that have already been made to be decided again.

"It is precisely Mr. Dodik who wants to decide again on what was decided long ago, and is now hesitating for some reason," Komšić emphasizes. 

"If everyone exerted pressure in the sense of disregarding previously agreed-upon decisions, I really don't know what that would look like. How can we now know that Mr. Dodik, for example, after a few years, will not decide to say 'nothing from BiH's EU path, what we decided earlier is not valid, I have changed my mind'? However, I believe that Mr. Dodik will show a degree of seriousness befitting a politician like him and respect what he has signed," Komšić says. 

"After all, when he invokes respect for the law regarding the appointment of a mandate-holder, Mr. Dodik is the chairman and he schedules sessions. He did not schedule it, and therefore, a decision could not be made about the mandate-holder," Komšić responded to Dodik's accusations that the BiH Presidency member of Croatian nationality should respect the law regarding the appointment of the candidate for the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.