Denis Zvizdić's Pre-election Campaign in Brussels!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

Bosnia and Herzegovina is fully committed to reforms, especially the implementation of the reform agenda, said Denis Zvizdić, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, addressing the members of the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) in Brussels.

The Prime Minister did not say that he himself doesn't know when the last law from that infamous reform agenda was adopted in the BiH Parliament.

And so, Prime Minister Zvizdić boasted with various data about how our path to the European Union is unquestionable, that we are firmly on that course, that we are fulfilling the conditions, and that we will get candidate status.

Chairman Zvizdić emphasized that BiH's ambition remains unchanged and that Bosnia and Herzegovina's goal is to obtain candidate country status for EU membership by the end of the first quarter of 2018. The Prime Minister clearly forgot that this is not an unchanged plan, as the earlier deadline was the end of 2017...

Everyone in BiH, but apparently not the Prime Minister, understands that BiH is nowhere near fulfilling the conditions that will bring our country closer to the EU, firstly because the ruling parties lack the will, and they cannot agree on crucial issues for this country, and when they do agree, it turns out they don't have a majority in parliament.

Everything in Brussels suggested that Zvizdić was holding a pre-election rally, and it is clear that he is not interested in the situation in BiH, as he expects support from the international community for the 2018 General Elections and that he was telling fairy tales there far from BiH's reality about a BiH that looks like Switzerland.

Does anyone in this country have the right to gamble with the European path and turn it into a pre-election campaign, thinking about 2018, expecting foreign support, instead of thinking about the citizens who are living increasingly difficult lives?

Before Zvizdić, Dragan Čović did the same, who submitted the application for EU membership on behalf of BiH. This finally yielded the most visible result for the nearly two-decade-long accession process. Čović boasted that everything was going according to plan, and then he also gave up in the end – admitting that BiH was in a blockade.

Where did Zvizdić get the courage to talk only about positive parameters (if any exist)? Absence from reality is characteristic of the members of the party to which Zvizdić belongs.

Thus, SDA convinces us that we have never had it better.

Zvizdić, like the Federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalić, has started talking about invisible roads. Novalić about those under construction, and Zvizdić about those leading to the EU. For now, it is certain that BiH has strayed from that path, and it will remain so until the citizens of BiH feel European values.

Such messages have also arrived from Brussels multiple times: "BiH must be persistent on its path and continue to adopt European values that will ultimately benefit citizens." How then did Zvizdić reverse the process... Since when should the leaders of the European Union be satisfied with BiH's values - Zvizdić, who believes in the help of the international community instead of voters in BiH!?

However, the Prime Minister forgot that on the other side, there are no naive politicians, but people who look at papers and the situation on the ground, not at Denis Zvizdić's fairy tales.

The EU has once forgiven the ruling elite in BiH for not implementing the "Sejdić and Finci" ruling, and clearly told them to focus on the economy. And BiH politicians did turn to the economy, and in the meantime, two new rulings, "Zornić" and "Pilav," arrived, and the economy stands as it is, or rather, it tends to fall... Now, "Sejdić and Finci," and "Zornić," and "Pilav" have come into play, and we are still stuck on the economy, literally stuck!

New taxes are being introduced, and the only thing that can be praised about the conditions is the rhetoric about our progress. Some laws have been adopted, but so long ago that the public has forgotten what the main task of the legislative authority is.

Trends in economic growth are present, they say, but they are not yet significantly felt in the lives of citizens, but the country is on the right track. And we are all on the path, but we don't know which one, this real one where much, much more political will and stability are needed, or Zvizdić's imagined one, but it's nice to dream... or travel, at least for those lucky ones whose passports are valid, and let the others wait... Or would the Prime Minister say it differently, we are progressing so well that our youth are no longer leaving the country...