Lazović: Republika Srpska cannot survive Dodik's secession and separation

Interview by: Delvin Kovač

I wish for Milorad Dodik to proceed with secession and separation as soon as possible, because Republika Srpska cannot survive that path.

This was stated in an interview for the News Agency Patria by the former President of the Assembly of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, member of the wartime Presidency of BiH, and member of the Democratic Front (DF), Miro Lazović.

In his interview for NAP, Lazović spoke about the danger of the Dodik-Čović partnership for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dodik's intentions regarding separation, the actions of the Trojka coalition and the international community in BiH, and he also has a message for all patriotic forces in our homeland.

What does Dodik and Čović's, and especially Dodik's, direction of all possible political processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina look like to you? They almost get whatever they want.

Lazović: The Dodik - Čović tandem has been and remains in an unbreakable alliance. Dodik publicly and aggressively undermines state institutions, while Čović, in his usual manner, publicly spreads optimism while covertly strengthening political ties with Dodik.

Milorad Dodik has been playing a dangerous political game for a long time. He is trying to threaten the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina both verbally and practically. His high-stakes game has entered its final phase. He does not hide his goal: to undermine Bosnia and Herzegovina and make RS independent. Regardless of having the support of Vučić and Putin, the ultimate loser will be RS, and the winner will be the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With their policies so far, the Trojka coalition gives the impression of being subservient to the demands of Čović and Dodik, especially to the HDZ. I cannot understand that the Trojka in the Federation of BiH has handed over all significant financial levers to the HDZ.

The opposition, both at the state and federal level, is not really in a position to prevent the disastrous political actions of the Trojka members regarding the future of BiH. They are accused of handing everything over to the aforementioned duo. Have the citizens of BiH realized that things cannot continue like this with the Trojka and that they are light-years away from the change they announced?

Lazović: For the past thirty years, BiH has been in a political vortex produced by ethnic politics. The Dodik - Čović tandem is trying to strengthen that policy as much as possible. The Trojka is not navigating adequately. The ideological concept of the Trojka, especially of the SDP and Naša stranka, is contrary to ethnic politics. Hence their wandering and lack of direction.

They thought that by adopting a defensive and passive policy towards Dodik, they would mitigate his aggressiveness and change him. Not only did they not change him, but they also did not bring about the changes they promised and for which they received the citizens' support.

Citizens will give their verdict on the Trojka's policy in the upcoming Local Elections. Their work so far does not guarantee them a good result in October.

How do you view Dodik's agreement on separation from the FBiH? Is it another one of his shots in the dark, or does it perhaps hide a danger to the survival of our homeland, given that the Trojka is on the other side, from which, again, they say that there is nothing to his proposal? But still...

Lazović: Dodik is not alone in dismantling state institutions. He is one of the key actors in implementing a scenario conceived under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Aleksandar Vučić.

The Greater Serbian concept, despite its disastrous consequences for Serbia, has never been abandoned. Today, the "Serbian world" is on the scene, whose spiritual inspirer is the SPC, and political implementers are Vučić, Dodik, and Andrija Mandić in Montenegro.

I wish for Dodik to proceed with secession and separation as soon as possible, because Republika Srpska cannot survive that path.

From the international community, I primarily mean the embassies of the USA and Great Britain, as well as the Office of the High Representative (OHR), they conduct Twitter/X politics. They react from time to time to Dodik's provocations, but it mostly ends there...

Lazović: I think that the embassies of the USA and Great Britain, as well as the EU, have clearly sent a warning to Dodik that he and RS will ultimately be the losers.

The High Representative, Mr. Christian Schmidt, has stated that Dodik is not the guarantor of RS's survival, but he is.

For a responsible and intelligent politician, these are clear enough warnings. I am not sure if these warnings are in line with the goals of Dodik's mental framework.

What do you have to say to the patriotic forces in BiH - and who are these patriotic forces, in your opinion - on how to deal with the Greater Serbian and Greater Croatian hegemonic policies, which are not subsiding but are intensifying year after year?

Lazović: The late Professor Esad Zgodić wrote long ago: "The outcome of political struggles between totalitarian ethnic concepts and the civic concept of government will determine not only the fate of BiH as a state but also the existential survival of Bosniaks as a people."

And indeed, it is so. Bosniaks as a people cannot survive without Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as a stable and democratic state can hardly survive if it is not civic, i.e., a state of full human rights and freedoms throughout its territory.

Solutions for such a state exist. They are found in the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which abolish ethnic and all other discrimination and affirm individual rights and human freedoms.

The task of patriotic forces, and by that I mean not only political parties but above all intellectuals, the academic community, civil organizations, and the media, is to oppose the deniers of civic BiH with one voice and under one flag - the flag of BiH.

On the political scene, I wish for cooperation and consolidation of parties with the same or similar ideological matrix.

A political scene with a hundred entities, as registered for the Local Elections, cannot bring anything good. It only brings disunity and weakness in resisting external and internal opponents of Bosnia and Herzegovina.