THREE-PARTY MEMBERS SPINNING AGAINST THE TRUTH Konaković: If SDA, DF, and NES had corrected our bad laws with amendments, we would have gotten negotiations

By: Rasim Belko

The amount of propaganda spins used after today's presentation of the European Commission's report on BiH and the conditional start of negotiations with the EU clearly indicates that part of the current government fears the public's correct assessment of the entire situation.

From the moment the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, finished her presentation, we read triumphant messages from government representatives from the Sarajevo three – SDP, Our Party, and People and Justice – on social media and through the media.

We succeeded, we want to, we did, and we will continue to do so echoed on Twitter and Facebook all day: For those who have read even the summary of the report, it is clear that we have not succeeded.

For those who watched the press conference of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Elmedin Konaković, which he called a celebration, it is even clearer that we have received nothing.

In fact, we received a report that clearly shows we are the last passenger on the increasingly difficult European path. The last passenger carrying the burden of secessionism, dysfunctional government, and corruption on their shoulders.

However, Konaković, in the manner of top spin masters, states: “There is no country in the region that has gone from obtaining candidate status to a conditional decision to start negotiations in a period of about 10 months.”

He cited Croatia as an example, but he forgot to mention that they did not receive a conditional candidate status or a conditional negotiation process; instead, by fulfilling the conditions, they received tickets to the next level on the European path.

However, how unclear Konaković is about what he is talking about is proven by the sentence: “We received candidate status undeservedly, due to geopolitical processes and events” and another “We fought to get a recommendation, not a ‘will recommend’.”

Therefore, Konaković skillfully avoided saying that we received nothing, except for the fact that Bosnia and Herzegovina's European path is hanging by a thread and that it is only saved from the abyss by the EU's fear of Bosnia and Herzegovina ending up under the paw of someone from the East.

In fact, in the two quoted sentences, Konaković best described the (non)functionality of the government in which he is also a significant factor. We received candidate status conditionally, and “we recommend” (that BiH opens negotiations when it fulfills the conditions) or “we will recommend” (that BiH opens negotiations when it fulfills the conditions) is one and the same thing.

This is precisely the reason for the spin madness of the three-party members, which culminated in the address of the BiH head of diplomacy. We received nothing because we did nothing. This was attempted to be hidden by propaganda about a historic day.

However, Konaković seemed unable to resist spinning to the end, saying to the camera: “The European offer is not happening because of us, but because of the events in Ukraine.”

In translation, the story about how they fought for “we recommend” instead of “we will recommend” is hollow, because no one from the European Commission even asked them, but that EC could not directly say “let BiH wait” due to geopolitical events, so it said “we recommend when it is assessed that BiH has fulfilled the conditions.”

After all, it is clear to everyone that the final decision is made by the European Council, and there are more than enough people there who expect us to fulfill our obligations before we talk about the negotiation process.

The three-party members know this, but accustomed to presenting political failures as historic successes through spin, they are trying to make BiH citizens fools.

In that vein, Konaković's announcement that he will “talk in a different tone with everyone who tries to ruin ‘this kind of opportunity’” should be viewed.

And the European Commission clearly defines which policies are ruining the possibility of accelerating BiH's European path. These are the policies of Konaković's partner, Milorad Dodik, and his SNSD, which are characterized as the main brakes on the European path.

Konaković announced a different language for Dodik, so it will be interesting to follow how the head of diplomacy will scold Dodik and force him to be European. In fact, isn't Dodik already Renaissance European, as Edin Forto and Nermin Nikšić said.

Or is SDA, DF, or NES to blame for all of this, which Konaković accuses of not submitting amendments! But, at least the head of diplomacy admits that the laws were bad, so the opposition should have corrected them with amendments.

In the end, it is clear that we have received nothing and will not receive anything for a long time. That is why the spin masters – the Sarajevo tricolors – rushed today to convince us to believe them, not our own eyes. The fog they tried to sell will completely dissipate at the European Council summit.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is definitely stuck in the mud, from which the current government will have difficulty pulling it out. And the best illustration of this fact is that we submitted the request for EU membership in 2016, and today our government is fighting for “we recommend” instead of “we will recommend” the opening of negotiations.

Croatia, which Konaković uses as an example that we are better than them, went from application to full membership in just over eight years. Bosnia and Herzegovina is now in its seventh year since the application, and membership cannot even be seen with binoculars.

Moldova applied for EU membership last March, received candidate status in June, and it is not impossible that they will get the green light to open negotiations in December.

But why would Konaković understand this, after all, he was not chosen as the best candidate for head of diplomacy.