Conditional EU path, conditional NATO path, and unconditional referendum in RS

By Muharem Cero

Turning a constitutional-legal defeat into a glamorous referendum victory in RS would be nothing else but a continuation of blocking Bosnia's EU and NATO path.

The astonishing Serbian echo of the trio Nikolić-Vučić-Dačić removes the last doubt of Serbian participation in the creation of Bosnian reality.

A referendum without alleged constitutional and legal effects (as interpreted by Inzko and most of the relevant international community), with so much noise from Serbia, must have less visible, hidden goals.

The cacophony of "war cries", threats, and manipulative motivation of war lords towards possible new "lead soldiers" aims at creating a political pretext for new anti-EU and anti-NATO obstructions of the Bosnian path.

An anti-Dayton referendum, criminally amnestied, would provide opportunities and almost legalize the non-execution of the final verdict of the Appellate Court of BiH in the case of the military facility in Han Pijesak. The same criminal-legal qualification of the Criminal Code of BiH applies to both actions, the referendum and this one.

Perpetuating the legal possibility of holding the referendum on January 9th, advocated and initiated by the member of the Presidency of BiH Mladen Ivanić, is nothing else but a more cunning version of complicity in these criminally punishable actions.

The lack of reaction to the unlawful referendum, whether from the domestic prosecution or the international community, enabled by the Bonn powers of the High Representative, would mean keeping BiH in a state of frozen conflict. This state would not only isolate RS and partially the region, but consequently would push BiH to the deep margin of the EU and NATO path.

Precisely such a state suits, and they even wish for it, those anti-Bosnian policies that have not reconciled themselves with equal recognition of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina since the nineties.

In the changed circumstances, however, this time the game could have a different course and outcome, and it depends solely and exclusively on the legal bodies of the state of BiH, its prosecutor's office, as well as the Bonn powers of the High Representative Valentin Inzko. Simultaneous and identical action is desirable but not necessary, regardless of the need and justification for action.

With the two conditionalities and one unconditionality from the title of this text, the divided conditional-unconditional existence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina could also be read.