SDA on two sides: We condemn SNSD and HDZ, but we go with them

By: Amra Varatanović

Next week, negotiations between SDA, HDZ BiH and SNSD on forming a government at the state level are scheduled to continue. The last meeting of the presidents of these parties was held on March 18 without any particular conclusion except that talks would continue. At the same time, a delegation of SDA is negotiating with several other partners who are ready to enter into a joint government with them. From that side, SDA's position is somewhat weaker compared to the other two partners who have already gathered other parties around them.

 For now, when it comes to the state level, SDA is negotiating solely in its own name. At the session of the SDA Main Board, several conclusions were adopted that relate precisely to SNSD and HDZ BiH. Thus, SDA demands from the RS authorities (i.e., SNSD) to „withdraw the award they gave to Radovan Karadžić, and to change the name of the student dormitory in Pale that bears the name of a war criminal convicted of genocide.”

And while SDA welcomes the repeated decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH that it is unconstitutional to celebrate January 9 as the Day of RS, from that BiH entity not only do they not respect the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH, but they go a step further, stating that they will send an invitation to SDA President Bakir Izetbegović to celebrate the Day of RS. 

SDA also criticizes the RS authorities for constant attacks on returnees and calls on them to prosecute the attackers and take measures to curb national hatred. 

The SDA Main Board also strongly condemned the attempts to revive the Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna, which is backed by HDZ and Dragan Čović. Any attempts at further territorial division of BiH were also condemned by the US Embassy and the OHR.
From SDA, they remind that the para-state entity HZHB, later HRHB, produced a joint criminal enterprise that was convicted at the Hague Tribunal in the Prlić et al. case. 

And while on one hand they condemn, on the other, for SDA, they remain partners in government. To the direct question of whether SDA is ready to stop negotiations if such actions by these parties continue, the President of the SDA Main Board, Čedomir Lukić, said:
„We point out within the talks with representatives of HDZ and SNSD that we cannot support such activities. But at the same time, we are moving towards forming a government in BiH because far greater damage will result from not forming a government than from our exclusion from talks for any reason,“ said Lukić. 

The statement prepared and offered by Izetbegović as principles of action to Čović and Dodik has still not been signed. How (un)seriously they were taken by the future coalition partners is also shown by Čović's statement that it “is nothing special.” 
The Statement states that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH will be respected as elements of its international subjectivity. Whether it will be signed at all will be known after the next meeting, which should be held by the delegations to finally determine the distribution of portfolios in the Council of Ministers of BiH.