Radical anti-Bosnian HDZ cadres gaining extremely important positions in FBiH through weak Trojka

Interviewer: Delvin Kovač

The fact that radical HDZ cadres are getting the opportunity to be highly positioned in the Federation with such a politically weak Trojka, and are practically being given institutional space and mechanisms to realize their anti-Bosnian views and policies, is concerning.

This was stated in an interview with the Patria News Agency (NAP) by delegate in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, Muamer Zukić (SDA).

A session of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament is scheduled for tomorrow. One gets the impression that the agenda, just as it seems to be the case in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, is being set by the president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović. The Trojka (Three) hardly have the courage to oppose him in anything. Do you also get that impression?

Zukić: The agenda for the session of the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, scheduled for tomorrow, is clearly tailored to the HDZ, at least in terms of appointments. We are under the impression that this session was called with the aim of satisfying the HDZ in terms of personnel, likely as part of the price for the recomposition of the parliamentary majority at the state level.

Such an agenda is not a big surprise, as we are already accustomed to the HDZ having a dominant role in the work of the current government in the Federation and that the Trojka is, in fact, an extremely inferior coalition partner.

Of course, we must also be realistic. As the opposition, we are aware of the fact that the HDZ is a political reality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that as such, they are winning a share of power and positions. However, the fact that radical HDZ cadres are getting the opportunity to be highly positioned in the Federation with such a politically weak Trojka, and are practically being given institutional space and mechanisms to realize their anti-Bosnian views and policies, is concerning.

It seems likely that a heated discussion awaits you again. The agenda includes, among other things, the appointment of members of the Management Board of RTV FBiH, where the name of journalist Zoran Krešić is particularly controversial, whose views have long ceased to be within the scope of journalistic, but rather political-HDZ activity. What is your stance on this issue?

Zukić: I would like to remind the public that this is a person who said "if I were someone, I would block everything in the country", "if I were someone, I would destroy the Federation", "that 'Herceg-Bosna' is sacred", who relativizes The Hague verdicts on crimes against Bosniaks (about the Joint Criminal Enterprise), who mentions some "Bosniak fascism", etc.

And now such a person is being given the opportunity to be "someone", meaning they are being given a position from which they can realize their publicly expressed anti-Bosnian and anti-Bosniak convictions. There are truly no arguments that can justify the Trojka's decision to agree to such an appointment.

Therefore, I am of the opinion that the appointment of this person to the Management Board of Federal Television violates the vital national interest of the Bosniak people, and conditionally speaking, the vital Bosnian interest.

Late in the evening, at the end of January, the opposition thwarted the parliamentary majority's plan to elect judges to the Constitutional Court of FBiH. However, that item has been put back on the agenda for tomorrow's session. The name of Monika Mijić is particularly questionable here, who, as acting agent of BiH before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, did everything to prevent the "Kovačević v. BiH" verdict from being confirmed. Your comment?

Zukić: In the past period, we have witnessed several attempts to elect the missing judges of the Constitutional Court of the Federation. Each time we had some complication!

First, the Election and Appointment Commission changed its reports in one day. Then there was an attempt to arbitrarily increase the prescribed constitutional minimum regarding the national affiliation of judges through some strange interpretations of the Constitution of the Federation. Finally, we had a session of the House of Peoples "in the dead of night", which was both convened and not convened.

We don't know what awaits us on this issue this time?! In any case, we will insist on respecting the procedures and on electing the best candidates.

As for the mentioned candidate, her biography also contained parts that were anti-Bosnian. And this is actually just a confirmation of the assessment we made at the beginning of this conversation - that the radical part of the HDZ is being appeased and that anti-Bosnian cadres are getting opportunities for appointments to extremely important positions in the Federation.

Tomorrow, you are also supposed to consider the Bill on Amendments to the Law on Contributions under an expedited procedure. Is that law acceptable to you?

Zukić: The amendments to the Law on Contributions have not offered what could be called fiscal reform. The aggregate reduction of contributions by 5.5% is a step forward and a relief, but it is not at an optimal level at this moment. Especially not after the decision of the FBiH Government on the minimum wage and everything that followed. Someone described it well - we have a significant fire in the economy that is being tried to be extinguished with a bottle of water.