Komšić in Montenegro: I am being bypassed in election law negotiations

(Patria) - Željko Komšić, Chairperson of the BiH Presidency, speaking at the Balkan Integration Forum 2021 in Podgorica, said that the state of perpetual conflict or anticipation of conflict of any kind in BiH can be overcome by returning to modern principles of democracy.

Komšić states that this principle is that the individual is at the center of the administrative and social system.

"Their rights, their dignity. That is the principle on which the EU functions, but it is an idea that I think is worth fighting for and should not be given up. When that time comes depends on the will of the citizens' choices in BiH," he said.

He commented on the role of the international community within the framework of the Election Law.

"I am not sure that changes will come about in this way. I fear that it will be the basis for a new political conflict. It is a mistake to set conditions for us by those who do not even know what progress would be now. In my assessment, the international community in BiH is deviating from its fundamental, public policies that it proclaims at every step. These are primarily the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The Zornić judgment is the most drastic example of how discriminatory we are towards our citizens. They most often try to bypass me in these negotiations, because I guess I spoil that idyllic picture of successful negotiations. We are not discussing at all on a value level, and how the country will progress towards EU standards, and everyone claims that this is the goal of all reforms in BiH, including electoral reform, and therefore I believe that this will be the reason for the failure of the talks on the reform of the Election Law," Komšić pointed out.

Željko Komšić, member of the BiH Presidency, says that the EU path and reforms are not currently being discussed in that country. He believes that changes to the election law in that country will only bring another political conflict.

At the previous panel, Western Balkans expert Bodo Weber said that Russia is not a destabilizing factor, but rather the US and the EU, because they have handed this region over to Moscow.

When asked how to get Brussels and Washington to regain interest in the Balkans, BiH Presidency member Šefik Džaferović believes that the US and the EU have not abandoned the Balkans.

"We cannot say that they have left us just because they are not as engaged as we expected. But the international community did not react as it should have. Retrograde forces have raised their heads and thought they could realize them. Today, BiH lives in that kind of reality. The ultimate goal is secession, but that will never happen. BiH will remain territorially intact. Let's just see how much it will have to be paid for... but there are those who are tied to BiH by the umbilical cord and will not allow it to fall apart. It is necessary to return to the principle of the rule of law. If an official says that a decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH is unconstitutional, which has no right to say so, that is an attack on the principle of the rule of law. With the help of the international community, BiH can return to the framework and its institutions can function. Our path, this region's path, is the path to the EU and NATO," said Džaferović.

Nevertheless, as he notes, the EU and the US should be more engaged in the region.