'Wigemark's announcement of OHR's departure'

By Armin Aljović

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EU Special Representative in BiH Lars Gunnar Wigemark assessed it as impossible for BiH to become an EU member while simultaneously having a High Representative and an international body such as the OHR, which can assume the powers of domestic authorities.

In a statement to "Glas Srpske" on Saturday, Wigemark reminded that the role of the High Representative will weaken if Bosnia and Herzegovina shows more ability to resolve its problems independently in cooperation between different levels of government in accordance with EU standards, and then added that „BiH has made progress on the European path, as evidenced by the fact that it has submitted an application for EU membership, implemented a number of important reforms, and adopted a coordination mechanism...“

It cannot be clearly concluded from Wigemark's interview whether the Head of the European Union Delegation in BiH is hinting that the Office of the High Representative in Sarajevo might be closed soon, which pro-Russian politician Milorad Dodik has been insisting on for a long time, or if Wigemark is saying that Bosnia and Herzegovina will never join the European Union because Valentin Inzko will not leave Sarajevo for a long time, given the increasing radicalization of relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and neither neighboring Serbia nor Croatia can boast of increased democracy.

The departure of the OHR from Bosnia and Herzegovina, therefore, the only interpreter of the Dayton Peace Agreement, signed 24 years ago in Dayton in front of the whole world, verified in Paris, is conditioned by the „5+2 Agenda“. Before the abolition of international tutelage over Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is necessary to implement the program which includes: 1). An acceptable and sustainable solution to the issue of property allocation between the state and other levels of government; 2.) An acceptable and sustainable solution for military property; 3.) Full implementation of the Final Decision for Brčko; 4.) Fiscal sustainability 5.) Establishment of the rule of law (demonstrated through the adoption of the State Strategy for War Crimes, the adoption of the Law on Foreigners and Asylum, and the adoption of the State Strategy for Judicial Sector Reform). In addition to these goals, the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board has also set two conditions that must be met before closing the OHR: Signing the SAA and a Positive assessment of the situation in BiH by the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board based on full respect for the Dayton Peace Agreement.

'DODIK'S INTEREST'

Dodik desires the departure of the OHR from BiH without the first item of the „5+2 Agenda“ being fulfilled beforehand – „An acceptable and sustainable solution to the issue of property allocation between the state and other levels of government“. That solution, from the Western perspective, implies that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the owner of land, forests, water, air... on its territory, and that the entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, are merely users of these public goods. Dodik has a different calculation; he wants to register public goods as the property of Republika Srpska, not the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is why he is delaying the adoption of the Law on State Property of BiH and rushing the departure of the OHR, accusing the international community of blocking the process in BiH. According to Dodik's logic, the owners of land in the Federation – which HDZ supports – would be the cantons, not the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Consequently, the sea in Neum, for example, would no longer be the property of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.

The policy of Dodik and Čović, judging by the Hague verdicts, was the essence of the war from Serbia and Croatia against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the nineties – taking control of the territory of a neighboring country and creating ethnically pure parts that would eventually be annexed to Serbia and Croatia. Part of that plan was realized in that war – Republika Srpska, although an entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, today has an almost ethnically homogeneous population structure, and has judicial, executive, and legislative power. It only needs to own the territory, after which it would have all the prerogatives of statehood, although this was not agreed upon in Dayton.

The positions and actions of the Head of the European Union Delegation in BiH, although he is a European politician, have increasingly coincided with the positions of Russian lobbyists in Brussels in recent months.