Schwarz-Schilling: Dodik has crossed the red line, the policy of appeasement is leading BiH to disaster

SARAJEVO, (Patria) Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik has already crossed the "red line" threatening the survival of BiH, so the international community must intervene quickly and decisively to stop him on a path that threatens peace in the entire region, assessed former High Representative for BiH Christian Schwarz-Schilling.

In a column published on Saturday by Deutsche Welle (DW), Schwarz-Schilling warned that the sanctions imposed on Dodik by the US back in 2017 have had no effect, and therefore it is necessary for the European Union to now join them, as it must defend in BiH the values on which it itself was founded.

“The policy of appeasement,” as he defined the EU's approach to BiH, does nothing good for that country, and as the best proof of this claim, he offers the current negotiations on amendments to the election law in BiH, which are being conducted with the mediation of special US envoy Matthew Palmer and the director of the European External Action Service, Angelina Eichhorst.

Schwarz-Schilling claims that both Palmer and Eichhorst are trying to implement the reform of the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina in a very non-transparent manner and under pressure. He questions how this topic even became a priority at a time when BiH is in its worst crisis since the end of the war and when it should primarily deal with those who are destroying the state.

Instead of negotiating new election models, the former High Representative believes that the BiH constitution should first be changed, removing the discriminatory provisions defined by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. He sees the most important task now as stabilizing the state, but certainly not by abandoning democratic values, because an election law reform that would lead to even deeper ethnic divisions would further jeopardize the country's stability.

“Instead of sanctions against those who block the work of institutions and threaten the state, a way is being sought to appease extremists,” wrote Schwarz-Schilling.

His assessment is that everything happening now only encourages Dodik to continue his attempts to implement secessionist plans, for which he has the support of Russia and China, as well as the current President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.

“The plan for creating a Greater Serbia, which in the 1990s resulted in 2.5 million refugees and the killing of 100,000 people, is still alive and more present than ever before,” wrote Schwarz-Schilling, who also directed criticism at Croatia, stating that “the nationalist governments of Croatia and Serbia have never fully abandoned the partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

“I call on the international community, the EU, Great Britain and the US, and especially Germany, to act and urgently stop the disaster into which BiH is heading,” is Schwarz-Schilling's concluding message.