Belgrade's policy towards BiH will remain the same, and that's bad!

Regardless of who wins the elections in Serbia, Belgrade's policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina will remain the same, and that is not good, stated Ivo Banac, a professor at the American university “Yale“, for the BiH news agency Patria (NAP). According to him, there will be no significant difference for the region, and especially for BiH, whether Aleksandar Vučić or Ivica Dačić emerges as the winner.

- Serbia's policy towards BiH is always the same, and that is not good for you. I don't see any particular progress there. However, there are indeed some misunderstandings between Vučić and Milorad Dodik, but how important and substantial they truly are is difficult to determine – says Banac.

When asked what could change that policy, and whether some kind of ignorance from Vučić towards Dodik's radical views could break that policy continuity, Banac says:

- Dodik will be strong in BiH as long as his voter base tolerates him. I don't think Vučić has brought much, any changes, but even that is not entirely clear.

Speaking about whether the international community can achieve any positive progress through a policy of patting Belgrade on the back regarding Serbia's policy in BiH, Banac tells the NAP agency that he is not sure things should go in that direction at all.

- I don't think it's good in itself for external countries to be able to influence the situation in BiH. That is, in itself, negative – says Banac.

Commenting on the concern that BiH, especially Bosniaks, could draw the short straw if Serbia joins the European Union soon after Croatia, Professor Banac “brings things back down to earth“.

- They cannot join the EU that quickly. Serbia will not join the Union before 2020, so there is still a lot of room for BiH's position to change, and if BiH's relationship with the European Union were to change radically, who knows who would join before BiH or Serbia – Banac points out.