AHEAD OF THE PIC STEERING BOARD: Rule of Law and the New Normal in BiH, or When the Aga Ties Where His Horse Tells Him!

Written by: Muharem Cero

History remembers that no matter how peaceful the world may be, the time comes when the aga ties where the horse tells him. The history of the human race in great upheavals destroys empires, marks the time of transience for empires, and creates new ones in the environment of new normalities. These processes are preceded by major changes in the value system, and the old ones give way to new normalities.

The tools of change are the arguments of force and power, while the established rules of international justice become merely expendable clichés of previous times. Force and power undermine the established rules of coexistence of the great and powerful. The small and those unprepared to recognize emerging events become merely trampled grass in the conflict of the elephants of power.

As in the case of Bosnia, first there was a word as cold as Bosnian stone, and then a declaration in the operationalization of the so-called 'Serbian world', an indisputable project of territorial hegemonism, in our circumstances called the Greater Serbian project.
Nothing faster in the sequence of achieving the goal is the verbalization of the territorial narrative of Serbian land on Bosnian territory.

Despite the unquestionability of resolving the status of state property through the obligation to adopt a law on management, use and disposal, a clear answer now follows about the non-existence of this property-legal and civil-legal institute - state property.

The Belgrade narrative, no matter how self-effacing and hidden it has been until now, is laid bare in its full expression, and with the declaration they set out to achieve the hegemonic goal.
Earlier weak voices of the same nature about the 'non-existence of the institute of state property' were contested in an even lower tone by domestic political players, and the international community, except for expressing concern or, alternatively, calling for agreement and consensus, did not themselves offer clear and constitutionally based directions for resolving the nearly 32-year-old shortcoming of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA).

The self-proclaimed politician, not a diplomat with the status of High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt, bypassing the obligation of final authority in interpreting the DPA, in his last three media appearances, almost caught off guard, newly opens all possibilities for resolving this issue, even going so far as to accommodate solutions that come from the letter and spirit of the declaration of the 'All-Serbian Assembly'.

At times, one gets the impression of a superficial familiarity with the matter of state property on the part of the appointed Schmidt, so he gives answers to inquiries with ambiguous interpretations, explaining that one should continue searching for a final solution while seeking adequate parallels in existing models of countries in the region, and even further afield.

All these interviews were given just before the two-day meeting of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council for BiH, so it is right to ask whether these are merely the views of the High Representative alone or whether they are coordinated with the governments of the PIC Steering Board, of which he is merely a high-ranking official.

Anyone dealing with the issue of state property, whether through participation in the executive or legislative authorities at all levels in BiH, as well as those who follow the whole matter from the outside, should ask themselves why Schmidt, in his political tightrope walking and balancing of narratives, has never taken a position on the fact that the portfolio of state property, in its origin and creation, was to a large extent the result of legal violence by the authoritarian regime of the previous socio-political system of the former SFRY.

And although he has been warned several times about the necessity of adopting a law on denationalization and return of private property, which is the dominant, and legally violently seized, fund of state property in BiH as well. The lack of international pressure to adopt a law on denationalization and restitution in BiH encourages the processes of ethno-territorialization of BiH according to the consociational federal model.

Consociational federalism, in its essence of desirability, is the most pernicious anti-Bosnian model for a better future, and in its very essence lies the certification of ethnic cleansing, war crimes, and even genocides themselves.

The two-day Sarajevo meeting of the PIC Steering Board, in the circumstances of political aggressions against BiH, is without exaggeration of historical significance, and therefore, from its communiqué and its position on the issues of the conclusions from the declaration of the 'All-Serbian Assembly', as well as a clear determination on the necessity of adopting a law on the management and use of state property in BiH, while respecting the resolution of the issue of denationalization and restitution, Bosnia is to a large extent placed on an irreversible path towards Euro-integration.

Anything else would be a deception and betrayal of the promises from Dayton. Let the agas and horses in this story recognize themselves; it won't be difficult!