Lazović for NAP: Slaven Kovačević's candidacy is a fight against ethnic cages and for a Bosnia and Herzegovina of all its citizens

Interview by Delvin Kovač

We are going through a difficult and burdensome period, and with the current ethnic policies, our future is completely uncertain, warns the former president of the Assembly of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the participants in the Dayton peace negotiations, Miro Lazović.

In an interview with the News Agency Patria (NAP), Lazović spoke about the current political situation, threats to peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, but also about the necessity of changing the BiH Constitution.

He also commented on Slaven Kovačević's candidacy for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and ultimately presented his own expectations from the upcoming General Elections in October.

How would you assess the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Lazović: The political situation is complex with a tendency towards further complication. Bosnia and Herzegovina has been facing destructive policies for a long time that prevent the more efficient work of state institutions and steer Bosnia and Herzegovina's path to the EU into a dead end.

The activities of the ruling parties SNSD and HDZ, i.e., the Dodik-Čović tandem, are aimed at blocking and halting the adoption of reform laws, while the representatives of the Trojka are trying to create an image of some progress in the public.

The real picture is that the ruling parties at the state level are imitating rather than effectively exercising power. We are going through a difficult and burdensome period, and with the current ethnic policies, our future is completely uncertain.

Is peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region threatened, and to what extent, in your opinion? Who are the main culprits for this?

Lazović: Unfortunately, our region is still facing policies that created the breakup of former Yugoslavia. The shadows of that breakup still hover over Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

The mythological goals of creating, once "Greater Serbia", and today "Serbian world", extend through the policies of Aleksandar Vučić and his subordinates - in BiH, Milorad Dodik, and in Montenegro, Andrija Mandić.

And until this policy is definitively defeated and changed, there will be no stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina or in the region.

However, I am sure that, regardless of Milorad Dodik's open secessionist threats, peace will not be threatened. According to the Dayton Agreement, NATO is responsible for maintaining peace in BiH, and any attempt to threaten peace through the secession of the RS would lead to short-term instability and the disappearance of the RS.

What is an adequate response to policies that seek to undermine our country? Unfortunately, there is no critical political mass that would rally around the most important issue - our country.

Lazović: I have repeatedly stated in public the necessary need for pro-state political forces, both from the government and the opposition, to unite against open attacks on our country, both from abroad and from within, and under the state flag and with a unified voice, to send a strong message that, in addition to Euro-Atlantic integration, clearly states the political goals - the defense of BiH as an indivisible, multi-ethnic, and secular state and its development as a state of full human rights and freedoms throughout its territory.

Send such a message to Brussels, Washington, and also to our neighbors in Belgrade and Zagreb.

My experience tells me that the international community, primarily America, values and accepts strong political forces that know what they want and what their goals are. The time when we rightly believed in justice and hoped for the a priori support of the international community has passed.

It seems that both the European and NATO paths have failed, and that the current government will do nothing more by the end of this term. How do you comment on this?

Lazović: Our path to the EU and NATO has not failed, but it has been halted. This year will be spent in political turmoil, quarrels, and pre-election maneuvering, because this populist competition for party leadership will be more important than adopting the necessary reform laws and accelerating our path to the EU and NATO.

How do you view the discussions about a new restructuring of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or some kind of Dayton 2? How realistic and possible is this, and what would it bring to Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Lazović: After thirty years of applying the Dayton Constitution, the time has finally come for its change. With such constitutional solutions, we cannot enter the EU or NATO.

Our Constitution is full of discriminatory provisions that threaten human rights. The Dayton Constitution affirms ethnic collectivities while discriminating against individual rights and placing them in an unequal position.

The Dayton Peace Agreement was sufficient to stop the war but not to build a stable BiH. To build an efficient, democratic, just, and European BiH, civic reinforcement is needed. This implies that all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from Strasbourg must be incorporated into the BiH Constitution. This would eliminate ethnic policies and ethnic divisions, as well as threats of secession and desires for a third entity.

I believe that the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights from Strasbourg would eliminate considerations about the need to convene a new conference like Dayton 2.

How do you view the candidacy of Slaven Kovačević for the Presidency of BiH from the Croatian people?

Lazović: The Democratic Front (DF) party was the first to nominate Slaven Kovačević for the Presidency of BiH. His candidacy has produced various reactions - from public support to the expected criticism from parties with a Croatian prefix.

Slaven's candidacy is legitimate and legal. It is an expression of the struggle to build BiH as a state of full human rights and freedoms throughout its territory. At the same time, it opposes ethnic electoral units and ethnic engineering that leads us to the creation of ethnic cages in which individual rights are stifled and lost, and BiH is presented as an immature and underdeveloped state for entry into the European family of democratic states.

Slaven will have the support of all citizens who want Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state of all its citizens.

What are your general expectations from the upcoming General Elections?

Lazović: It is still a long time until the October elections. Our political scene is constantly subject to change. Populism and ethnic manipulations, spreading fear of one another, will likely dominate the political scene. In such an atmosphere, civic options will not have it easy.

As Meša Selimović would say: "It is always easier to persuade people to evil and hatred than to good and love."

Nevertheless, I want to believe that our people have suffered evil and injustice for long enough, and that in October they will choose the options that advocate for love and good among people.

As a social democrat and a member of the DF, I certainly wish for a good result for the civic option.

I expect that after the elections, a government will be formed by parties whose priority will be the fight for a stable, just, and European Bosnia and Herzegovina, and against ethnic divisions, crime, and corruption.