Meeting in Konjic agreed: Čović deliberately deceived Izetbegović, now broke Dodik to change his stance

The meeting in Konjic at the restaurant „Orahovica“ was agreed one-on-one by the leaders of SDA and HDZ BiH, Bakir Izetbegović and Dragan Čović, on Sunday, after the first man of the strongest Bosniak party and the leader of SNSD, Milorad Dodik, reached an agreement on the Coordination Mechanism and the arrangement with the IMF, writes the news agency Patria.

Izetbegović and Čović then specified that it would be in Konjic at 6 p.m.

During yesterday, within just a few hours, journalists were fed disinformation about this meeting, and unofficially we learn that it came from Čović's circle.

Journalists who gathered in Konjic first received disinformation that the location and time were wrong. Then that Izetbegović and Čović would not meet, but rather party delegations, and the last was that the meeting was not even agreed upon at all.

However, all of that was a well-crafted lie from Čović's kitchen, who immediately on Sunday evening opposed the agreement between Izetbegović and Dodik, at a meeting hosted by the head of the EU Delegation in BiH, Lars Gunnar Wigemark.

Then followed statements from HDZ BiH and HNS, in which it was clearly read that Čović's vanity had been hurt.

His anger over the Izetbegović-Dodik agreement culminated last night, when he did not show up for the agreed meeting. The leader of HDZ BiH has so far proven to be a top political manipulator; over the past two years he has been the main „peacemaker“ on the Bosniak-Bosniak, Bosniak-Serb, and then „everyone“-international community relations, and he always had that key role of holding all the strings in his hands. He met with everyone, whenever and wherever he wanted, made political deals, and that was never an issue. Until now.

That he does not like Izetbegović and Dodik (Bosniaks and Serbs) meeting without him as a mediator is confirmed by his statement that he advised Wigemark „not to do it that way“.

Of course, Čović also does not like that the agreement from East Sarajevo on the Coordination Mechanism removed any possibility that any of the peoples could block BiH's European path by their representatives not attending meetings.

Therefore, on Monday he immediately began exerting pressure with a letter to EU leaders and the head of Slovak diplomacy, Miroslav Lajčák, claiming that the reached agreement „excludes one level of government from decision-making“.

He meant the cantons, of course. However, neither are the cantons excluded nor are Croats shortchanged. The text was only refined in the part stating that decisions are made by a majority vote of those present.

Thus, the possibility of blockades has been removed. For example, if Čović, Izetbegović, Dodik, Bosić... do not like something, they decide not to send their representatives from a certain level of government, and the decision cannot be made.

The leader of HDZ BiH „with premeditation“ decided to ignore Izetbegović and not show up in Konjic, but, by all accounts, the number one player on the political scene in BiH so far has not considered the consequences he might cause, which ultimately could be most detrimental to him.

From Sunday until today, besides deceiving Izetbegović and not showing up in Konjic, Čović also managed to soften his long-time friend and political partner Dodik. In an interview for Večernji list, which will be published tomorrow, it states:

Everything proposed by the representatives of Croats, including a clear role for cantons in the coordination mechanism, is supported by the representatives of the RS authorities and myself. There was no need for such a strong reaction regarding Sunday's meeting. I sent a letter to Čović and Izetbegović in which I agree that the cantons be mentioned in the disputed point of the Coordination Mechanism, in order to satisfy the interests of Croats. This document will strengthen the role of entities and cantons, Dodik said among other things.

SUPPORT FOR THE AGREEMENT GIVEN BY THE USA, GREAT BRITAIN, AND THE EU

The agreement between Izetbegović and Dodik was immediately and unconditionally supported by the British Ambassador Edward Ferguson and the US Ambassador Maureen Cormack, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini, the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and the Head of the EU Delegation in BiH Lars Gunnar Wigemark.

Support for the agreement between the leaders of SNSD and SDA was also given by the coalition partner of Izetbegović and Čović, the President of SBB Fahrudin Radončić.