International Crisis Group: BiH slowly heading towards disintegration!

Bosnia and Herzegovina is slowly sliding towards disintegration, according to the latest report by the International Crisis Group (ICG), reports the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

- The risk of a deadly conflict is small, but after billions of dollars in aid, a strong international administration, and European support entered the country, it is nevertheless slowly heading towards disintegration. The different goals and interests of the three peoples are a constant source of crisis, exacerbated by a constitution that does not meet the needs of any people - the analysis of this international non-governmental organization states.  

As they point out, the political elite holds all levels of government and the largest part of the economy in their hands, and voters have no practical way to remove them. The EU, meanwhile, is imposing tasks on BiH that it cannot fulfill.

- The international project of building BiH was successful, and the physical scars of war are no longer visible, and peace reigns in the country. However, the political agony shows the limitations of foreign intervention. More and more Bosnians are asking questions that were relevant before the war: Will BiH remain one country, two, or three? If it remains one, will it have two or three entities - the report states, among other things.

The heart of the problem is the Dayton constitution, the ICG believes. A new design is needed, a normal federation, territorially defined, but without special roles for the constituent peoples and accountable to the interests and rights of all communities and citizens.

The International Crisis Group has also made a series of recommendations to BiH authorities, citizens, the European Union, and the Peace Implementation Council.

Among other things, they propose the abolition of the High Representative, cantons, thorough constitutional reform, and the urgent submission of BiH's application for membership in the EU and NATO, reports NAP.