Political Brotherhood of Dodik and Čović Dangerous for BiH's European Path

Written by: Haris Ljevo

The love between Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović has lasted for several years. The two politicians generally agree on most political decisions in BiH, and if there is something they disagree on, they do not discuss it publicly.

Opposition parties in the RS and parties with a Croatian prefix in the FBiH have been warning for years about the detrimental status of the peoples that Čović and Dodik, at least declaratively, represent in areas where one of these two politicians holds power.

Namely, it is no secret that Serbs today live the hardest precisely in those areas where Čović's HDZ has ruled for years, while Croats in the area controlled by Dodik's party face complete biological extinction.

All this has never been an obstacle for this duo to stick together in making political decisions that directly harm the state of BiH and the peoples they represent. Or rather, they swear they represent.

Such a policy will not change in the coming period either. Both Čović and Dodik have promised that.

Announcing his candidacy for the BiH Presidency member from the RS, Milorad Dodik stated that he will stick to the RS and has no intention of visiting cities in the Federation of BiH. It was a direct message to Serbs living in the Federation that they mean nothing to him, because Dodik, like most other politicians in this country, considers only those people who give him their vote in elections as his own.

Serbs from the Federation of BiH cannot vote for a candidate from the other entity under the BiH Election Law, so Dodik believes there is no need to care about them, as they do not deserve attention.

On the other hand, representatives of the few opposition Croatian parties that HDZ's policy has not managed to suppress, and rare representatives of the Catholic Church who dare to contradict Čović, have been warning for years that Croats in the RS are decreasing every day and face complete disappearance.

Dragan Čović does not respond to such warnings at all, because by the same logic as Dodik, they mean nothing to him other than a statistical error.

Growing dissatisfaction with Čović's policy can also be seen among Croats in Central Bosnia.

For years, citizens have been hearing from Čović and other HDZ representatives the story about the legitimate representation of Croats, but more and more are slowly realizing what this legitimacy means in practice.

According to Dragan Čović, the only legitimate representative of Croats is the one supported in elections by voters from Mostar and Western Herzegovina. The votes of others are completely irrelevant.

The 2018 general elections are the best, and perhaps the last, opportunity to once and for all defeat such retrograde policies of Čović and Dodik, which daily cause enormous damage to the state of BiH and its citizens.

Any eventual entry of Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik into the BiH Presidency would be a serious blow to BiH's European ambitions.