Smajić: Schmidt's passivity towards blockades directly benefits HDZ and SNSD policies

(Patria) - The House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has been facing serious impasses for a year and a half, and the situation has escalated in the last month and a half, especially regarding the Excise Law.

The absence of SNSD and HDZ delegates from scheduled sessions has practically paralyzed the work of this body, while delegates, despite the blockades, regularly receive high salaries that cost citizens up to 100,000 KM per individual annually.

Warnings from the European Union are becoming increasingly sharp, as without concrete reforms, the country risks losing 400 million euros from the Growth Plan, as clearly indicated by European officials Marta Kos and Luigi Soreca.

Delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament Džemal Smajić (SBiH) believes that the key to unblocking is held by High Representative Christian Schmidt, but emphasizes that his current stance is counterproductive, writes TVSA.

Smajić believes that Schmidt's insistence on domestic politicians reaching an agreement themselves actually gives wind to the sails of those who are obstructing.

- In translation, this means that he will not exert any pressure or threaten any sanctions or use of Bonn powers against those delegates from SNSD and HDZ who are blocking - points out Smajić, drawing a parallel with Schmidt's earlier interventions in the Constitution of the Federation of BiH.

According to him, the High Representative is showing "double standards" because he previously directly interfered in the work of institutions, while now, when laws that directly affect citizens' standards, such as excise taxes, are on the table, he remains passive.

Smajić sees the problem of blockades as a strategic move by Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik with the aim of portraying Bosnia and Herzegovina as a dysfunctional and impossible state.

Nevertheless, he says that such efforts will not bear fruit because the state belongs to all its citizens, not just political leaders.

- What they intend to show to the wider public, that it is impossible - it will outlive them, us, and everything else, and be ready for the future generations who will inherit it - emphasizes Smajić.

He adds that there is no change in the political course of the actors who are consciously halting processes in both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

Commenting on the meeting between Dodik and Čović in Banja Luka, Smajić says it was an attempt to create the illusion of ownership of the state, which, in his opinion, was enabled by the lenient policy of the Trojka parties.

He places special focus on the issue of the Southern Interconnection, criticizing the amendments to the law by which the state-owned company BH-Gas has been completely excluded from the project.

- It is a precedent for a private company to be introduced into a law and for the name of that company to be emphasized - warns Smajić, pointing to numerous risks, from lack of transparency to questionable expertise and financial stability of the company tasked with leading a strategic energy project.

Smajić concludes that no gas connection can be implemented without first resolving the issue of state property in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, accusing the current government of handing over the management of key institutions to policies that do not work in the interest of the state.