No EU without implementing the "Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina" judgment: Time for a pan-Bosnian offensive from those who said NO to Schmidt!

By: Rasim Belko

The American model of a "frozen conflict" of ethnic (tribal) communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the peace agreement and the constitution stemming from it, will no longer be possible.

Because, after the judgment in the case of "Slaven Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina," it is clear that Bosnia and Herzegovina must transition from the American (Dayton) path to the European (Brussels) trajectory by reforming its constitutional and legal order according to the model of Western European and civilizational values.

Key Differentiation

And that model of European and democratic values does not recognize what has held Bosnia and Herzegovina captive for the past three decades. The ethnic concept of constituent peoples does not exist in the developed civilization of the West and the European Union, so Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a candidate country, must adapt to these values.

The judgment in the case of "Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina" therefore removes the exclusivity of active voting rights from ethnic communities and returns sovereignty to the citizen, the national of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regardless of how they ethnically declare themselves. This is the key differentiation compared to all other judgments concerning BiH. And this citizen of BiH, by the aforementioned judgment, gains the right to elect their representatives to government bodies as they wish, not according to a system someone has rigged and determined for them.

As Kovačević himself stated today, the judgment noted that the Constitutional Court of BiH has ruled four times differently on the same matter. This is proof that the Constitutional Court of BiH balances between the peace agreement and the constitution within it, and European rules and conventions, which, according to the Dayton Constitution, are a supralegal category.

However, Bosnia and Herzegovina now has a fairly clear picture, and this picture will become clearer as the judgment is read in more detail and introduced into the public sphere.

However, the reactions we have read since the first information about the judgment indicate that nothing will go smoothly. And we are not used to anything else. But what pro-Bosnian forces must absolutely not allow is for the dust of mass news production to cover up a judgment that is crucial not only for the country's European path but also for its survival.

Therefore, it is high time for pro-Bosnian forces, not only political but also academic, media, etc., to move from a passively reactive momentum to a more serious offensive that must valorize the "Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina" judgment and, in the full sense of the word, unblock BiH's European path.

This cannot be achieved with statements of support or by responding to policies that have pursued the same policy since Dayton as they did during the war. Their policy has not changed; they have only replaced criminal armies as an element of realization with parliamentary seats according to the hierarchy of power in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And their opinion on the possibility or impossibility of implementing the judgment is neither crucial nor the most important. Because, if, God forbid, someone were to consider the opinions of SNSD and HDZ, it is clear that BiH would have ceased to exist long ago.

Therefore, the issue of implementing the judgment of appellant Kovačević is an opportunity and an obligation for those who escaped Christian Schmidt's apartheid claws and the diplomatic corps that sought to create a political and electoral system based on the model of tribal communities, to begin acting within the political formation to chart the path for the implementation of the judgment.

Strong Momentum

I am primarily referring to DF, NES, SBiH, and SDA. This political alignment must now find the strength and will and use the quite strong momentum to move towards homogeneous action in creating opportunities for the implementation of the judgment.

And this action must be concrete, whether through working groups or top-level meetings with an offensive towards the West, in order to try to gain stronger support for the normalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina's organization and to open the only normal path to the EU.

Of course, those who agreed to Schmidt's apartheid should not be written off a priori, but they have already clearly stated, both after the judgment and before, that they are not exactly in favor of what the Court in Strasbourg ruled. Nermin Nikšić (SDP) said that we already have numerous judgments that are unimplemented, and Elmedin Konaković has repeatedly echoed Čović's narrative about legitimacy.

However, if there were a paradigm shift in the project called the Troika, their doors should not be closed, but they must clearly distance themselves from what they have said and done in the past year or two.

And one should not be euphoric; all of this will not lead to the implementation of the judgment tomorrow or in a year, but it will primarily stop the international community and their political protégés in their pursuit of turning Bosnia and Herzegovina into a tribal community that will be plundered by its neighbors. Once that is stopped, only then will the pro-Bosnian bloc be able to act on the direct implementation of the judgment in the "Kovačević" case.

This action must be synchronized and without any admixture of divisions into left, right, centralist, or who knows what other categories. In that pro-Bosnian bloc, there can and must only be those forces that are ready for a relentless struggle, with the sole interest – the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because that struggle has been ongoing since the declaration of independence and will end on the day when a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina has equal rights to a citizen of any European Union country.

It will be a difficult and long-term struggle, but the core formation of that pro-Bosnian bloc, DF, NES, SBiH, and SDA, has shown that it knows how to handle such struggles.

If they act more synchronously and strongly towards the West, and if they harness the international wind in their sails, there is no doubt that one day we will speak of the "Kovačević" judgment as a historical document that opened the doors of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Anything contrary to the struggle on such a path, in the near or distant future, carries the disappearance of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina!