SDA Presidency: There will be no "third entities", drawing maps can further burden BiH-Croatia relations

(Patria) - The Presidency of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) held its regular session in Sarajevo today.

Nine conclusions were adopted at the session, which you can read below.

1. The SDA Presidency assesses that the report of the High Representative for BiH Christian Schmidt to the UN Security Council was correct, with clearly identified problems and designated culprits for the attempt to deconstruct the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We believe that the solution is not in removing the High Representative or reducing the powers of the OHR, but in overcoming the main culprits for blockades and stagnation embodied by Milorad Dodik's regime, and in his permanent removal from the political scene.

2. We welcome the address of Bosniak representatives in the RS entity to the UN Security Council and the fact that the High Representative finally highlighted the issue of humiliating apartheid in this entity.

Throughout its entire five-year mandate, the SDA warned Christian Schmidt that he is the High Representative not only for the Federation but for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

3. The resignation of Christian Schmidt from the position of High Representative, regardless of the reasons and circumstances under which it occurred, must not have any consequences for the role and functioning of the OHR institution. Schmidt's successor must be appointed as soon as possible.

The OHR, with full powers, including the Bonn Powers, must remain based in Sarajevo until the conditions from the 5+2 Agenda are met and the necessary mechanisms for unblocking the state are established, which would replace the role of the High Representative.

Any other scenario pushes Bosnia and Herzegovina towards new blockades and additional instability.

4. We warn that drawing maps and advocating for the so-called "third entity" at gatherings in Zagreb can only cause additional instability and further burden relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and especially between Bosniaks and Croats.

There will never be any territorial-ethnic divisions of the Federation or any "third entities". The attempt to create the so-called "Herceg Bosna" 33 years ago led to a war between the HVO and the Army of RBiH, which resulted in crimes, concentration camps, the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks, and convictions of the leadership of the so-called "HZ-HB" and the Republic of Croatia for a joint criminal enterprise.

Instead of threats of new divisions, blockades, attempts at a paternalistic attitude towards BiH, cooperation with Dodik's regime to pressure Bosniaks, it is necessary to resolve all open issues between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the frustrations and demands of both peoples, through dialogue on an equal footing.

5. The current ruling coalition (SNSD, HDZ, Trojka) must bear full responsibility for the total blockade of the European path and the loss of almost one billion KM from the Growth Plan.

Instead of implementing reforms and utilizing favorable EU funds, the government is uncontrollably indebting the state and entities.

Through their inaction, they are returning Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Moneyval grey list, which will have severe consequences for the domestic economy, as well as for citizens' financial transactions.

6. The FBiH Government, through its ignorance and inaction, is pushing the Federation into an ever-deeper economic catastrophe. All key parameters are falling, only prices and debt are rising, which in just four months of this year has reached 2.1 billion KM, to which should be added off-budget borrowing of almost two billion KM.

The Coke plant in Lukavac has been shut down, the Steel plant in Zenica is on the verge of closure, industrial production is declining, total exports have fallen by 20 percent, exports in the defense industry by as much as 50 percent, and 10,000 jobs have been lost in 15 months...

Most public companies that operated positively in the previous mandate are now at a loss. The closure of the milk industry means the state is losing food security and domestic food production.

The economy is becoming predominantly consumer and trade-oriented, not production-oriented. In the long term, this means greater dependence on foreign markets, loans, and political relations abroad. Without the production of steel and milk, we are not talking about a sectoral crisis but the gradual shutdown of the production economy.

7. The SDA Presidency warns that the illegal actions of the Mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordić, and the Head of the Urban Planning Department of the City Administration of Mostar, HDZ BiH cadres, related to property-legal relations, are unacceptable. They have changed the possessor of over 700,000 m2 in the area of the city of Mostar without legal basis, and instead of the legal and actual possessor, Hydroelectric Power Plants on the Neretva - a branch of Elektroprivreda BiH, Elektroprivreda HZ-HB has been registered as the possessor in the cadastre.

We call on the FBiH Government and the Management of Elektroprivreda BiH, as well as other competent authorities, to take the necessary legal measures to protect the property of JP EP BiH, and to file criminal charges against the responsible persons with the competent prosecutor's office.

We condemn the activities of the Mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordić, through which he seeks to appoint only cadres from the Croatian people to management positions in the City Administration and public enterprises of the City of Mostar, disregarding the constitutional and legal provisions on the proportional representation of constituent peoples, and ignoring previous agreements on this matter with Bosniak representatives in the City Council.

8. The SDA Presidency fully supports the activities of the Bosniak Club in the City Council, which aim to return the work of the mayor and the city administration of Mostar to constitutional and legal frameworks, and especially the activities to protect the rights of Bosniaks and all other citizens to equal representation in the institutions of the City, as a basis for building trust.

We call on the delegates in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament to support the adoption of the Law on Proportional Representation at the session scheduled for May 19, 2026, the adoption of which would balance national representation in institutions and prevent discrimination that is particularly evident in the Herzegovina region.

9. The Presidency of the Party of Democratic Action unanimously decided that the SDA candidate for the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Bosniak people will be the President of SDA, Bakir Izetbegović.