Radončić: Coalition yes, blackmail no, let Izetbegović make the first move

SBB President Fahrudin Radončić said at today's press conference that 2016 was a year of mixed successes with several steps forward through credible allocation, relative peace in the FBiH and the implementation of the reform agenda, Patria reports. He highlighted the stagnation in infrastructure projects as a key criticism.

- We opened one tunnel and someone opened one sidewalk, and I fear those are the greatest construction achievements of the past year.

Radončić also stated that relations within the coalition are quite insincere and that this should be left behind, focusing on the coming year.

- We placed emphasis on Euro-Atlantic integration and for Bosnia and Herzegovina to become part of the European family of peoples as soon as possible.

Speaking about the figure of 27,000 employed in the FBiH, which has been cited recently, Radončić said this is not accurate and that statistics are a deceptive science.

- That would be 270 factories with 100 employees each. If someone has those, I would gladly visit those collectives. It is about accounting and statistical games from which BiH citizens cannot live better – Radončić said, adding that 600,000 BiH citizens live on the brink of poverty. He called on everyone to make 2017 a year of absolute struggle for the economic prosperity of BiH.

When asked by a Patria agency journalist about the statements of SDA President Bakir Izetbegović and the strained relations within the coalition, primarily due to media reports, especially from Dnevni avaz, Radončić said:

- I do not accept anyone's blackmail. I am a man who loves the coalition; we entered the coalition after months of pleading from the SDA because there was a collapse in the FBiH. To form the coalition, we gave all premier positions to the SDA in the cantons, the FBiH, and at the state level. We gave them the three largest companies: Elektroprivreda, BH Telecom, and BH Pošta. To preserve the coalition, I lay for three months or less under a political indictment and did not want to break it, even though the plan was to break it. After that, we sacrificed our own election result in the local elections to merge with the SDA. And suddenly there is an additional demand. There is no coalition agreement that implied the SDA would be with the SBB together with Avaz, which pursues its own independent editorial policy.

Radončić said that the major Avaz is older than the SBB and this coalition.

- Coalition yes, ultimatums no. If someone has another alternative, which I do not see, but perhaps Mr. Izetbegović does, we have nothing against him making that move. Political practice does not allow conditioning a coalition on the reporting of a media outlet that is not owned by that party. Imagine if I told Mr. Izetbegović, 'You have dominant influence over FTV, Klix, Slobodna Bosna, I don't know, Stav, and shut down Faktor' - says the SBB president.

When asked by Patria when he last spoke with Izetbegović at the level of delegations from the two parties and what Mr. Izetbegović's first move entails, the SBB president said that party delegations last spoke on the day they signed the coalition (October 2015, editor's note).

- The first move depends on him. If he can explain to the citizens, his Main Board, and the international community that he is breaking the coalition because of the reporting of one media outlet, that will be a world curiosity which I will not oppose – Radončić said.

He emphasized that he will not break the coalition and stated that he will have to „ask some responsible Bosniaks to sit down with their teams and think about where current Bosniak politics is heading.“

- We are at war with everyone, whether it's Croats, Serbs, Serbia, Croatia, DF, SDP, SBiH, SBB – they are at war with themselves. There is no serious politics if you are so negative towards everyone. Without compromise, tolerance, and agreement, BiH and no country is possible. As the leader of the SBB, I will do everything to return Bosniaks as a constructive political factor on the political scene – Radončić said.

Radončić stated that there are problems in the relationship between the SDA and HDZ BiH.

- You have great optimism from Čović and pessimism from Izetbegović, and we are trying to be constructive.

Radončić said that the Federal Government and Parliament must resolve the situation much faster.

- The agreement was that everything adopted by the Government is automatically adopted in the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. We have a narrow coalition majority because we have a situation where several SDA deputies accidentally leave, and we pass things with 51 votes. The SBB behaves as a responsible part of the government and the executive.