BORN WITH POPULISM Milanović would divide Bosnia, but objects to Croatia's reorganization: What if Plenković calls Schmidt to impose a decision in Zagreb?

Written by: Delvin Kovač

---

His statements are irritating, rude, hypocritical, nonsensical. At every turn he insults all his non-like-minded and political opponents, as for example in Bosnia and Herzegovina the leader of SNSD and the President of the RS, Milorad Dodik, does. Their media appearances here and there are literally, one might say - cut from the same cloth. They have no respect for anyone, not even for those towards whom they should have at least a little.

For the President of the Republic of Croatia, Zoran Milanović - Dodik is a desirable Serb neighbor and ally of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although it seems that Dodik's great political friend and eternal coalition partner, the President of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, would not quite agree with the latter. At least declaratively, Čović stated yesterday that Bosnia and Herzegovina's approach to NATO cannot be stopped and that Croats will be the leaders of that process. This is in stark contrast to Dodik's previous theses about ending all cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and NATO until the end of the conflict in Ukraine. And obviously also with Milanović's praises of Dodik as an ally of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It is truly difficult to list all the content of Milanović's inappropriate vocabulary, which is unbecoming of a statesman. Although Milanović essentially is not one. The vast majority of the population of which he is president is probably ashamed of his words. And after this term, he will probably never be that again.

He has insulted and continues to insult the country of his origin, with which the country he leads shares more than a thousand kilometers of land border. "First soap, then perfume," "Big shit," "disorder," "the second-to-last hole in the flute," are just some of the many scandalous statements Milanović has made about Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was also merciless towards the Mothers of Srebrenica and the victims, denying the genocide in Srebrenica. Let us not forget his spitting on the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, the leader of SDA, Bakir Izetbegović...

From Milanović's, and not only his, but also from the statements of the state political leadership - one can often hear that concern for Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a constitutional obligation of the Republic of Croatia. Therefore, a logical question naturally arises - why are Croats in BiH demographically almost completely destroyed precisely because of that (lack of) concern from Croatia? The answer is extremely simple - it is not about Milanović's, Plenković's, or others' concern for Croats in BiH, but about the interests of HDZ BiH and Dragan Čović.

Last year, Milanović spoke about his wholehearted support for "some form of self-government for Croats in BiH, if they decide on it." In other words, it was support for Čović's ethnically pure third entity. Even more simply, the partitioning of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the form of reviving the project of the so-called Herceg-Bosna, whose entire political and military leadership was sentenced in The Hague to 111 years in prison for a joint criminal enterprise. But Milanović obviously does not care too much about that.

What he definitely cares about is the story of a possible reorganization of local self-government in his country. Milanović objects to the creation of regions as an alternative to counties.

"When Dalmatia becomes a region, let us beware. When Zagorje and northern Croatia become a region, that will be a state within a state. I do not see that as good for Croatia. We would not be able to agree on a new system, we would not even make it to the first turn," says Milanović.

Milanović is paradoxical, but we are used to that. Because his ideology is NDH-like, and he is a president elected by leftists. And so, while in mono-ethnic Croatia, a member of the European Union and NATO, he objects to internal reorganization for the sake of functionality, Milanović would reorganize Bosnia and Herzegovina. But in the direction of dividing it into three ethnic territories as an introduction to creating a Greater Croatia and a Greater Serbia.

He is a politician of populism and that is why no one serious in Croatia takes him as relevant. On the other hand, his words often grate on the ears of Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, so for the sake of the functionality of the Republic of Croatia, we hope that Plenković and HDZ will not call High Representative Christian Schmidt to impose a decision on the reorganization of Croatia.

But when we talk about the Plenković - Schmidt combination, who knows and who can be sure. Milanović, karma is a tricky thing, be careful what you wish for, lest your wish backfire on you!