Kulenović: Dayton has completed its historical role, time for the path to Brussels

(Patria) - "The US and Europe are divided over BiH - and where is the voice of the citizens?" is the title of today's regular session of the Association of Independent Intellectuals Krug 99.

In his opening address, the president of Krug 99, Adil Kulenović, recalls that a few days ago a peaceful protest was held in front of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) building in Sarajevo, gathering several hundred citizens.

- They came, those who have a moral stance, responsibility and courage - and not as advocates of ethnonationalist and transactional interests.

We ourselves prevented a traffic blockade - because we are not interested in a false image. We submitted and handed over our demands where decisions are made - among the members of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC).

Our six points are now echoing in the negotiation rooms of Washington, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Rome and London. The PIC failed to appoint a High Representative.

The US and the EU clashed - not only over the name, but also over competencies. But let's be precise - what is this really about?

The Dayton Peace Agreement has completed its historical role. It stopped the war. That was its task. And it accomplished that task - three decades ago.

Today, Dayton is no longer a solution. Dayton has become the framework of a captive state - a state where blockades are rewarded, court rulings are not implemented, and citizens are hostages of collective eligibility.

We are not seeking the dismantling of Dayton. We are seeking a way out of Dayton - towards Brussels. And not in a way that one principle defeats another, but that collective identities are integrated into a modern, functional, European and civic-based democracy - Kulenović points out.

The key subject of that new state, he emphasizes, must become - the citizen. And the political Bosnian nation of all citizens. That is the point that binds us fatefully. And the key point of civic integration.

- We are not abolishing identities. We are not banning peoples. But we say: no one can have a veto over the future of a sovereign state and a modern nation anymore. Everything else is conflict - and a renewal of violence. That is what is being divided between the US and the EU today.

Nominally, the US wants a High Representative who will resolve state property because without that there is no Southern Interconnection. But our concern relates to the model of that solution - which, due to pragmatism, could call into question the territorial integrity and wholeness of the state.

Even more than the doubt: will energy dependence today depend on Russia and Serbia, and tomorrow on America and Croatia? The American abandonment of building modern nations is the reason for our greatest suspicion - states Kulenović.

According to his words, the EU wants to preserve European influence - losing the OHR means losing leverage.

- For us, and more than that: Europe is not only our natural ground - it is also the path out of a captive state and a collapsed society. Our utopia is nowhere - Europe is its reliable place of liberal democracy and political equality of citizens.

Our six demands are not mere wishes, but prerequisites for a realistic path from Dayton to Brussels:

‣ Preservation of the OHR until 5+2? - Until we establish mechanisms that replace blockades and vetoes;

‣ Implementation of court rulings? - Because the rule of law is not a negotiating category;

‣ State property according to European standards? - Because without that there is no functional and sovereign state;

‣ The institution of the High Representative? - Until it is replaced by an adequate institution in the Constitution;

‣ A civic constitution? - Because only then will everyone become equal.

And that is why we dared to ask for a High Representative from a European country with international capacity and democratic culture - not as a master, but as a catalyst and ally who will guide us from Dayton to Brussels - says Kulenović.

He adds that this is not a proclamation about a person, but an insistence on the path, on the democratic transition of a sovereign Bosnian state.

- We reject patriotic illusions - in this environment of geopolitical realignments, we cannot do it alone. We reject it also for security reasons.

The High Representative is also an institution for declaring states of emergency, which has no functional equivalent in our Constitution, especially in crisis circumstances.

And why were there few of us at the protests? Because we live in a culture of subservience, fear of war and the renewal of genocide, skepticism towards any state authority, and a mentality of putting on an ethno-religious shirt instead of civic responsibility.

Intellectuals today are measured by the amount of power they have, not by their responsibility to the community. And we are not waiting for a motive for orange revolutions - for someone to die under a canopy or other misfortunes, so that we can set the streets on fire.

We come out with six points, analysis and arguments. That is why there are few of us. Because moral stance, responsibility for the state and courage are not popular today. What is popular is ethnonationalism, transactions - and complaining without solutions.

We offer what is our role: thought, analysis, demand - and courage. They came, those who have a moral stance, responsibility and courage - for the interests of the state and all citizens. If this is a failure - may every failure of ours be like this.

We will not give up! Just as we have not given up in the past 33 years - concluded his address Adil Kulenović.