Unannounced closed-door meetings: Konaković lobbied for Dodik at the OHR, strategy devised by Miroslav Lajčak

(Patria) - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and leader of the People and Justice party, Elmedin Konaković, visited the OHR on Thursday morning to lobby High Representative Christian Schmidt on behalf of Milorad Dodik, Istraga.ba has learned from multiple diplomatic sources.

Konaković did not inform the public about this meeting. However, as we have learned, the president of People and Justice told the High Representative that the ruling state coalition agrees to seek solutions in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that all of this could “relax relations” in BiH.

All of this followed a meeting in East Sarajevo, where leaders of the ruling coalition parties announced the adoption of amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These amendments would open the door for Milorad Dodik to abandon the election law of Republika Srpska, which was supposed to be on the agenda of the National Assembly of the RS today.

“The atmosphere is different today, because political actors have managed to agree on very, very difficult issues and have earned this kind of reward and confirmation that it is worth talking and negotiating with the official stance of Brussels, which leads to EU integration. Today's meeting was very difficult, not easy at all, but we are aware that domestic political actors must make maximum efforts to resolve issues. The Election Law as a priority, but also other issues,” said Konaković after the meeting in East Sarajevo.

Amendments to the Election Law were also announced by the president of the SDP, Nermin Nikšić.

“We all regret that the momentum we had after the opening of negotiations has led to a stalemate in which the work of the Parliament and the Council of Ministers has been blocked. This meeting ended with us being committed to trying to return to the European path, to unblock that path, and to focus on resolving issues. I have always been told that what we have achieved so far has been through joint discussion and compromise to reach legal solutions that we will adopt, rather than those that will be imposed. We agreed to do our best to propose the Election Law, i.e., to put it into the parliamentary procedure, so that electoral procedures are the result of an agreement among local authorities,” said Nikšić.

According to information from Istraga, the main creator of the “domestic agreement” story, which is supposed to save Milorad Dodik, is Miroslav Lajčak, the EU Special Representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues. During this week, at a meeting in Mostar, Lajčak proposed to Dodik, Nikšić, and Dragan Čović that they present a “proposal of their own” to international officials.

“A few days ago, my colleague Nikšić, Dodik, and I concluded that we need to meet and find a solution to the situation that has arisen. It seems that the solution is to adopt the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the parliamentary procedure by next Friday, and that would resolve the majority of the problems we have,” stated Čović.

It is precisely for this reason that the EU called for “dialogue.”

“Following last month's decision by the European Council to open accession negotiations, the European Union expects Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the entity of Republika Srpska, to make steps forward instead of taking actions that are contrary to its European path. The European Council's decision has shown that dialogue, not escalation, brings results. We call on all leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina to fulfill their obligations and the expectations of citizens and to return to the negotiating table for the benefit of the people in the country and its future in the European Union,” was published on the official EU website.