Deception about reforms and political fiasco: How the Trojka strengthened Dodik and Čović instead of the state!

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Dragan Čović's sentence, spoken in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska on February 2, 2022: "Protect Republika Srpska. You have expressed so much emotion here that everyone can envy you", still resonates today, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also on the international political scene. This statement, which openly expresses admiration for a political structure that has been working to destabilize Bosnia and Herzegovina for decades, has remained etched in the memory of many. However, it seems that only the leaders of the Trojka are decisively ignoring it. Then as well as now.

Nermin Nikšić, Elmedin Konaković, and Edin Forto assured the public that by establishing a coalition at the state level, they had achieved something unprecedented. They spent enormous energy on two key things. The first was portraying Milorad Dodik as a new, reformed European leader, and the second was claiming that the Dodik-Čović partnership was over. However, the reality on the ground has refuted every one of these claims. And very quickly, less than two years after the stories in which they promised to apologize to the citizens and step down if their story turned out to be untrue.

The public in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been condemned since 2022 to listen to stories that were essentially just a smokescreen for what was really happening behind the political scenes. Those who believed that the Trojka was bringing a new wind to the Bosnian-Herzegovinian political scene soon realized that behind it lay the continuation of HDZ and SNSD dominance, this time with their assistance.

It is particularly interesting that the leaders of the Trojka ignored the fact that Čović openly showed his admiration for Republika Srpska, while they simultaneously assured the public that the HDZ would distance itself from Dodik. The reality, however, showed a different picture; Dodik and Čović remained loyal partners, while the Trojka entered into an alliance that did not bring them political points, but only further compromised them in the eyes of the part of the public that believed in their slogans about reforms and the European path.

It should not be forgotten that SNSD was not supposed to be a partner, but NIP, SDP, and NS brought them into power, just like HDZ BiH – because it was possible without them. Today, when we are facing the dismantling of the constitutional order of BiH, the Trojka is trying to present its merits in exposing Milorad Dodik!? As if Dodik was ever different, except in their dreams.

But they did not see this, so with the compromise they boasted about, they handed over important levers of institutions to Dodik. The very institutions they are now calling on to react to the unconstitutional actions of Dodik and his team, and which are mostly run by SNSD and HDZ cadres!

This is where the bad policy and short-sightedness of the Trojka lie. Because Dodik has not been exposed; he has always been the same, only you made him a false European leader, while declaring everyone who spoke about him the same way two years ago as they do today as SDA bots and criminals.

Instead of insisting on the issue of strengthening state narratives, the representatives of the Trojka allowed narratives coming from Banja Luka and Mostar to dominate, with pronounced tendencies towards distancing Bosnia and Herzegovina from Euro-Atlantic integration. The fairy tale of a European BiH lasted shorter than even the leaders of the Trojka could have imagined in their worst nightmares.

Today, when looking at the political scene, it is clear that Nikšić, Konaković, and Forto, with their moves, have only further strengthened the role of HDZ and SNSD, instead of weakening them. Every lie surfaces sooner or later, and reality has shown that the promises of reforms and progress in EU integration were just empty words without real political will. In the end, those who believed that a new era in political relations was coming were disappointed.

Even now, when they have admitted that Dodik is not exactly a European leader, Nermin Nikšić throws him a lifeline by going to the NSRS, and Dodik talks about how RS is safe and everyone is welcome. Unlike in the Federation, where they supposedly don't dare. Nikšić spoke under the flags of Republika Srpska, at the same time as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte repeatedly emphasized in the BiH Presidency that this institution is the first and most important for any further actions.