NES promised Party for BiH to lie to SDP: We will publicly support Bećirović, but work for Efendić!

By: Rasim Belko

It is not new that Bosanska Krajina is a region where many have broken their teeth. Just as it is not new that the political space of Krajina has swallowed many ambitions, desires, and dreams and thrown them onto the landfill of history.

Political waves on the Una River are turbulent again, and the burden could fall on those who dream that they have won the political battle in Krajina.

For a better understanding of this story, I will remind you that the Government in Bihać has fallen and been reorganized several times, that approximately everyone has tried working with everyone so far, and that this is a continuity from previous mandates.

The latest whirlwind of political restoration of cantonal government in Krajina did not yield results, meaning the government in USK managed to preserve itself, and the price of that agreement will most likely be paid by the leadership of SDP BiH, i.e., their candidate for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Last week, everything was ready for the new majority to convene a session of the USK Assembly and elect a new Government that would include representatives from SDA, DF, SBiH, and POMAK. And while some media speculated, clearly not having enough good information, while the public awaited the outcome of what was being whispered in the coffee shops, the People's European Party (NES) was devising a plan to stay in power.

And they succeeded, unfortunately or fortunately, that is for the people of Krajina to decide and answer in October. However, what decided and prevented the change of cantonal government could very easily decide the fate of Denis Bećirović and thus Nermin Nikšić.

Because, the change of government in USK was blocked by the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina (SBiH), after NES promised SBiH president Semir Efendić that they would work for him on the ground as a presidential candidate.

And there, in the tangle of alliances, we come to a twist that no one could have predicted. NES, like SBiH four years ago, supported Bećirović and the megalomaniacal coalition. Then they parted ways, then reunited in the narrative about Schmidt imposing the government.

Towards the end of the current term, greed in NES prevailed, and they became an appendage to the Trojka project, in many negative aspects, including the election of HDZ's Marin Vukoja to the Constitutional Court, the election of Zoran Krešić to the Steering Board of FTV... and so on.

The president of SDP BiH spoke about this yesterday, publicly confirming that NES is a follower of Trojka's policy.

“First of all, I think that Trojka as a project will surely survive and that we already have some qualified partners who have proven to be credible and quality partners, especially in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as NES, PDA, and those political parties that truly follow us without any conditions, like the People's Force party of Minister Isak. So, we have partners who have qualified as Trojka's partners,” Nikšić stated for TV SA.

Therefore, while Nikšić does not doubt NES's support for Trojka, and for Bećirović, NES has coldly decided to play games with their “partners”. Two parties with one stone, that's the logic of the tandem Nermin Ogrešević - Rifat Hozanović. While SDP and Bećirović count on and thank Nermin Ogrešević and NES for their support, Semir Efendić and SBiH count on the behind-the-scenes agreement to help them achieve a better election result.

Although SBiH and its president have shown signs of political responsibility and statehood during part of the past term, ultimately, the story of SDP, NES, and SBiH can be called another exemplary case of political relativism in which truth lasts only as long as interest. Everything else is mere illusion of continuity. And that Bećirović should be seriously worried and question things is indicated by the fact that NES and SBiH have been partners for many years, so the easily given support to the Trojka candidate, and not to the candidate of their long-time partner SBiH, was strange in itself.

Because, in Krajina, the fight has long ceased to be for ideas, but for interpretations of the moment. And the moment is, as a rule, short, consumable, and prone to trading. What was called a principle yesterday is repackaged as tactics today, and tomorrow as a necessary evil. And so it goes, without a real beginning and without the intention of reaching an end.

Perhaps the greatest irony is that all the actors in this story simultaneously believe they are above the game, while in reality, they are just changing roles in the same play. The audience, however, no longer expects a resolution, having become accustomed to endless acts without catharsis. In such a theater of the absurd, power is not the goal, but a state, and opposition is not an alternative, but a temporary diagnosis.

Krajina, as many times before, will decide not only the political projects but also the illusions about their magnitude. Because this region has an inconvenient characteristic of, sooner or later, showing everyone their measure, both political and human. And the measure, it seems, has never been more inclined towards those who think they can bypass it.

Krajina is a region unto itself, because this outpost has learned to take care of itself when no one else will. And therefore, the tangle in Krajina could be a providence for SDP, i.e., for those reasonable people in that party, far more reasonable than its president.

But, the events in the outpost are very likely to jeopardize the polished story of Denis Bećirović's 12 apostles. Because, using the example of Krajina and the fact that NES will stick to its promise to Bećirović while working for Efendić, the question arises how many of those 12 will be support on paper. Whom to trust is a difficult question for Bećirović, because it has already become clear that he cannot trust everyone, and that already significantly shakes his chances of victory.