O'Brien left, sorrow remains: While foreigners and Bosnian politicians play 'cat and mouse', citizens are left without even hope!

Written by: A. Čorbo-Zećo

Fifteen days have passed since U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien, during his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned that this Balkan country is at risk due to secessionist threats from the entity of Republika Srpska. He promised that the U.S. would respond to anti-Dayton activities and would not allow the division of the state. To date, nothing spectacular has happened, and the messages delivered during this visit are fading.

A game of cat and mouse. The U.S. has done nothing concrete, nor have Bosnian authorities. EU leaders even less. And March, the month of hope for Bosnian citizens, is approaching. Because hope is the last to die, and citizens are longing for the green light to open negotiations and for BiH's path to the European Union.

Specifically, on that path, the current coalition at the state level has not done much. Because opening negotiations with FRONTEX is just that—a beginning. Republika Srpska still demands entity police at the border, while the BiH Presidency demands respect for the BiH Constitution and laws. More precisely, they have instructed the delegation to act accordingly. Otherwise, it is clear, there will be no green light for signing the agreement. And the laws are clear—only the BiH Border Police is exclusively competent for border matters.

The Law on Conflict of Interest is on hold, as is the Law on Courts, and the only concrete step is the adoption of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, which allowed us to avoid, at the last moment, the danger of falling under sanctions that threaten countries with insufficient mechanisms for monitoring financial transactions.

It is important to remember this: for BiH citizens, the path to the EU and NATO is of particular importance, but Bosnian politicians, together with international ones, are gambling with it. International politicians should have learned by now who they are dealing with; that is where their responsibility towards BiH citizens lies.

Because if O'Brien knew how to clearly dissect the situation, he must have known that nothing he said in his speech would happen. Because there is no one to implement it, nor the will to do so. Therefore, special attention should also be paid to the statement of Bogić Bogićević, who emphasized that he would like to believe that Europe has recognized the mistakes of its administration.

“It would be a great shame if we do not seize that opportunity in March. I am not an optimist because Macedonia suffered the greatest humiliation, changed its name, and what happened? Nothing,” Bogić Bogićević recalled in an interview with Face TV.

Accordingly, it is already clear that BiH has almost no chance of getting the green light. Even if we fulfill what is asked of us, which will be almost impossible to do because Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović are not giving up on their conditions (which the EU does not demand), and which bring great trouble for BiH's internal affairs.

Therefore, it is clear that neither Čović nor Dodik want BiH in the European Union, but rather a stronger role in the administrative units where they have absolute power. And the response to such actions from the international scene is lukewarm and ineffective.

Even if Dragan Čović ends up on the U.S. blacklist, citizens will see no benefit. We will continue to wallow in the mud of poor Bosnian politics, which has brought the citizens of this country to a beggar's staff, and he will continue to seek a 'floating electoral unit' that leads BiH into deeper divisions. Perhaps then there will be gas, the American kind, but for BiH citizens, there will be no peace or prosperity. Corruption has gnawed at the state of BiH, and it persistently gnaws at it, and even entry into the EU does not free us from this scourge. Croatia bears witness to this, which did not escape corruption by joining the EU!