Milanović again proves that Bosnia has no friends in the region, forgetting that many have 'broken their teeth' on Bosnia

By: Delvin Kovač

I am here to support the right people - Željko Komšić for member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With these words, today's Croatian President Zoran Milanović in 2010 at the central pre-election rally of the SDP BiH in Sarajevo gave his wholehearted support to Komšić in the race for the member of the collective head of state from the Croatian people. And Komšić succeeded then, defeating HDZ candidate Borjana Krišto, and convincingly at that. The same Krišto whom he also defeated in the previous elections in 2022. For Milanović, Komšić was then the right man and a legitimate representative of the Croatian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But ever since he dragged his SDP to the right of even the most right-wing HDZ, he has crossed Komšić out and does not even think of visiting the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina until someone from Dragan Čović's HDZ BiH takes the seat of the member of the BiH Presidency from the Croatian people. Although every now and then he runs around Herzegovina in the company of Čović, marking various anniversaries of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO).

Milanović yesterday, at the microphone where he usually never minces words but also regularly uses immoderate vulgar vocabulary, clearly stated that he is bothered by a democratic, European Bosnia and Herzegovina, a modern state of equal citizens living in it. Milanović again did not miss the opportunity to mention Komšić, because he was bothered by the fact that his close associate Slaven Kovačević won a lawsuit against Bosnia and Herzegovina before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Milanović is bothered by the fact that this ruling demolished the concept of Čović's legitimate political representation of the constituent peoples, so the self-proclaimed European, to the general satisfaction of Milanović, will finally have the opportunity in the 2026 elections to again place himself or someone close to him from his privatized HDZ BiH into the comfortable chair of the BiH Presidency. And that, of course, not because that HDZ candidate, whoever he may be, would defeat Komšić as an opponent, but because the leader of the Democratic Front (DF) will not have the right to run.

Milanović did not mince words yesterday, visibly furious about the Kovačević ruling, which means the end of Čović's dreams of cementing his HDZ into the foundations of the BiH Presidency. We are used to Milanović, in the style of Milorad Dodik, spitting, insulting and attacking whoever he can, and besides regularly slandering Bosnia and Herzegovina, yesterday he did not miss the opportunity to settle scores with the Court in Strasbourg using inappropriate language. For Milanović, the decision in the case "Kovačević vs. BiH" is another in a series of crazy rulings, calling those who made it, without any shame, lunatics with a dangerous political agenda. Ten years ago, specifically in 2013 during his stay in Bugojno, Milanović - then as Croatian Prime Minister - was not bothered by another ruling of the same Court, the one in the case "Sejdić and Finci", stating that he expected BiH politicians to reach an agreement on the method of its implementation as a precondition for BiH's progress towards European integration.

Milanović, presumably a greater European than Čović (or at least he should be), given that his home country has been a member of the European Union since that very 2013, should also know that he must respect the rulings of international courts, especially the umbrella European one which also deals with human rights. Ten years ago, he had nothing against "Sejdić and Finci", but today "Kovačević" bothers him. In this classic example of a "smorgasbord", Milanović amateurishly copies Milorad Dodik when the latter interprets the Dayton Peace Agreement. Besides the fact that he should not interfere at all in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he practically does on a daily basis, he should not even comment on the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, not even those that would concern Croatia itself, let alone Bosnia and Herzegovina. Milanović should and must do everything so that the state he heads, as one of the signatory parties to the Dayton Agreement, contributes to a more functional Bosnia and Herzegovina, and not continue in the Tudjman style to work on its dismantling.

It is absolutely clear to all of us that Bosnia and Herzegovina has no friends in its neighbourhood, which even today furiously wants to tear it apart in peace, since it failed to do so in the 1990s through aggression. On one side, Vučić, through Dodik, wants a piece of his cake to compensate for the forever lost Kosovo. On the other side, Milanović, through Čović, wants a piece of Herzegovina. The enemies of this country should know that it was, currently is, and will forever be, and the Vučićs, Dodiks, Milanovićs and Čovićs will pass, just as Karadžić, Mladić, Tudjman and Milošević passed. And they are not far from ending up on the rubbish heap of Bosnian-Herzegovinian history. It is truly inconceivable how someone can hate the country of their origin so much, as Milanović and Vučić hate their Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, they must know at least one thing - many have broken their teeth on it.