Magazinović: Brussels has a clear message, Eichhorst speaks quite differently here

(Patria) - SDP BiH MP Saša Magazinović was in Brussels where he had meetings with MEPs, which he discussed for N1. He said that BiH is welcome in Brussels, that they want information from our country, but that they are also aware that we are in the biggest institutional crisis and that it is clear to them that the generator of that crisis is the BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik.

As Magazinović stated, the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina have no need to talk to those people in Brussels, and he said he was frustrated by the work of the BiH Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“When we look at the capacities we have, the Minister of Foreign Affairs gets on a plane, goes to Brussels and has everything, while we have to make an effort to find interlocutors, and we have shown that we can do it, and that is why my frustration with the inaction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs is even greater. It is interesting that all interlocutors emphasize that they are not communicated with enough from BiH, and I would publicly repeat that this is an opportunity for them to use their communication channels to talk to people and for the decision-makers to have a clear picture“, said Magazinović.

He also said that there should be no opposition or ruling party when it comes to the political crisis in BiH and its resolution, i.e., unblocking institutions, and believes that joint work should be done on this.

“We had a large number of meetings in Brussels and we are welcome there. We received invitations for new meetings as well. Here, we only talk about what cannot be done instead of trying to do it. A good example of this is Vojin Mijatović, who organized an event to celebrate Statehood Day in Banja Luka. Perhaps someone else would have done it, but they just didn't start doing it“, stated Magazinović.

He also emphasized that they are aware in Brussels that we are in the biggest institutional crisis since the war.

“Also, it is clear to them that the generator of this crisis is Dodik. That is the general picture, and Dodik can invest any amount of money for lobbyists, it will be very difficult to improve that image he currently has. You see that things have really started to go downhill for him – he had a meeting with Putin that no one saw. The picture there is very clear, but when it comes to the Europeans themselves, what Eichhorst is saying here is not what we could hear in Brussels“, emphasized Magazinović, explaining why that is the case:

“In Brussels, they believe that the key thing is to unblock institutions so that they can do some work. Ms. Eichhorst believes that work should be done on the Election Law and pretend that everything is fine. Regarding the Election Law, MEPs believe that if BiH wants to – and it does want to – become an EU member, it should resemble some EU member states, including when it comes to the Election Law. What is currently on the table, these different models, do not resemble EU countries. The fundamental difference is that in the EU, the individual, the human being, is the focus, while here it is promoted that ethnic groups should be the focus. That doesn't exist anywhere. At the very least, there is bewilderment at some of the positions that are interpreted here as Brussels' positions, which they are not“, stated Saša Magazinović in Novi dan.

What is promoted in BiH are not European values
He added that what is promoted in BiH as some kind of solution are not European values, because, as he said, you cannot find a model in Europe where two, three, or five ethnic groups are separated within one country.

Magazinović also said that a large number of international officials have built careers and advanced in BiH, but also that a large number of people have politically perished in BiH, and he recalled Stefan Füle, the former European Commissioner for Enlargement, saying that he played “all in on BiH” and that in 2014 he accepted his defeat and said they had not succeeded.

“In that sense, even today there are people who are not really focused on BiH as BiH, but are present here and deal with us, and are more focused on themselves. With all due respect to everyone who is in BiH, the quality of people dealing with BiH is getting lower and lower year by year“, stated Magazinović.

Explaining that statement, he said that it means that the delegation of BiH within European institutions ends up with technocrats who are not highly regarded in their own countries.