Greens Seek Answers from German Government: 25 Questions on Serbian Nationalism in BiH

What consequences could the secession of the RS have on security in Europe? This is one of 25 questions that MPs of the Alliance 90/The Greens have submitted to the German government in a questionnaire titled "Serbian nationalism in BiH", Patria reports. 

MPs of the Green Party Marieluise Beck, Annalena Baerbock, Dr. Franziska Brantner, Agnieszka Brugger, Uwe Kekeritz, Tom Koenigs, Dr. Tobias Lindner, Omid Nouripour, Cem Özdemir, Claudia Roth (Augsburg), Manuel Sarrazin, Dr. Frithjof Schmidt, Jürgen Trittin, Doris Wagner and the Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group have submitted an inquiry to the German Parliament (Bundestag) on "Serbian nationalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina".

The inquiry, signed by Katrin Goehring-Eckardt, Dr. Hofreiter and the parliamentary group, contains 25 questions. In the introductory part, the Green MPs refer to January 9, 2017, when RS President Milorad Dodik held a parade marking RS Day, the celebration of which had previously been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. "25 years earlier, on January 9, 1992, Serbian nationalists proclaimed the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This step, which led to escalation, is seen as preparation for the war in BiH. The goal of the nationalist leadership of the Bosnian Serbs was the destruction of multi-ethnic BiH and the violent creation of a Greater Serbian state. The culmination of the ethnic massacre was the genocide of 8,000 Bosniaks in Srebrenica, which is now located in the territory of today's RS.

Besides Milorad Dodik, the parade on January 9 was attended by the Serbian member of the Presidency, Mladen Ivanić, whose party PDP is part of the opposition in the entity's parliament. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić also traveled there, as did several other ministers from the Serbian government. The parade was also attended by Edouard Ferrand and Dominique Bilde, members of the European Parliament from the French Front National.

At the parade, members of the police, war veterans, firefighters, and bikers marched with rifles.

The participation of soldiers from the Third Regiment of the Armed Forces of BiH was particularly controversial. Brigades of the BiH army were organized ethnically homogeneously. Participation in the parade was requested by Mladen Ivanić, but Defense Minister Marina Pendeš refused. The soldiers did not participate in the parade but were lined up and reported to Ivanić. The Ministry of Defense of BiH is investigating this incident," the document from the Alliance 90/The Greens MPs states, continuing:

We ask the German government:

1. What conclusions does it draw from the fact that the RS President insisted on the parade and the celebration of the so-called RS Day as a holiday, even though the Constitutional Court of BiH rejected it as unconstitutional (Standard, 9.1.2017, Tages Anzeiger, 10.1.2017) and to what extent - in the opinion of the German government - does such behavior by a representative of Bosnian-Herzegovinian state structures constitute a violation of the Constitution and the valid Dayton Peace Agreement, which is supervised by the international community?

2. What position did BiH Presidency member Mladen Ivanić take in this regard (Deutschlandradio Kultur, 10.12.2016.)?

3. How does the German government assess the fact that entity President Dodik, in response to the Constitutional Court's ruling declaring the holiday unconstitutional, held a referendum on the celebration of January 9 as RS Day, even though the holding of the referendum was deemed unconstitutional by a decision of the Constitutional Court (Tageszeitung 10.1.2017) and what did the German government undertake bilaterally or within the framework of the international community to prevent the holding of the illegal referendum?

4. What position on this issue, according to the German government's knowledge, do other states within the PIC hold - especially Great Britain, France, the USA, Italy, and Russia, and how have they behaved so far (please provide answers for each country individually)?

5. To what extent has the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) considered resorting to the so-called Bonn Powers in this regard in order to prevent a violation of the Peace Agreement in the given case, and what was the position of the German government on this issue?

6. What conclusions does the German government draw from the fact that the Russian Ambassador to BiH, Peter Iwanzow, openly supported the unconstitutional referendum on retaining January 9 as RS Day (Standard, 14.1.2017)?

7. Does the German government see - especially in the behavior of entity President Milorad Dodik - damage to the common institutions of the state of BiH, and especially to the Constitutional Court of BiH, and how does it assess the ability of the BiH judiciary to hold accountable those who disregard the rulings of the Constitutional Court of BiH (Tagesanzeiger, 10.1.2017)?

8. What concrete measures is the German government taking to strengthen the BiH judiciary (at the level of the common state) and to help ensure that its decisions are implemented?

9. What consequences for BiH could, in the opinion of the German government, result from the further weakening of BiH institutions?

10. What conclusions does the German government draw from the fact that on the occasion of January 9, RS Day, which was declared unconstitutional, a military parade was held in Banja Luka with the participation of armed forces?

11. What conclusions regarding Serbia's stance on the state sovereignty and integrity of BiH does the German government draw, given that the President of Serbia and several ministers from the Serbian government participated in the parade as official guests, and some of them also officially addressed the public?

12. What conclusions does the German government draw regarding the stance of Mladen Ivanić, a member of the BiH Presidency, on the state constitutionality of the country he represents, given his participation in the parade?

13. What conclusions does the German government draw from the presence of soldiers of the Third Infantry Brigade of the Armed Forces of BiH, who came to the parade in Banja Luka on the orders of Mladen Ivanić?

14. Does the German government share the opinion that the illegal celebration of RS Day, which took place despite the ban imposed by the BiH judiciary and the international community and which is linked to the successful seizure of (Serbian) parts of the common Armed Forces by Serbian leaders in BiH, represents a qualitatively new level of severe state crisis in BiH, threatening the security of the Western Balkans (I. Prohić, Schreckgespenst der Sezession, 13.1.2017. Heinrich Böhl Stiftung)?

15. Does the German government see in the fact that parts of the common Armed Forces of BiH are still largely ethnically homogeneous - a danger that they could be instrumentalized towards an escalation of ethnic tensions with the use of force? (Kurt Bassuener, The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegowina: Unfulfilled Promice, AI-DPC BiH Risk Analyses, October 2015)

16. Are, in the opinion of the German government, the statements of Milorad Dodik during his speech at the parade that he "dreams of the idea of joining mother Serbia" and then that it is a "wonderful idea to separate the RS and create a community with Serbia" as well as that parts of Kosovo must also belong to this new state, in accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, territorial integrity, and the creation of peace and security in the region? (Standard, 9.1.2017; Tages Anzeiger 10.1.2017.)

17. Should, in the opinion of the German government, the statements of Milorad Dodik after the parade that he intends in the foreseeable future to work on withdrawing from the agreement on the common Armed Forces of BiH, i.e., to examine the procedure for reintroducing the RS's own Armed Forces, be seen as a threat, according to which the formulated political goal of secession should, if necessary, be implemented by military means, and is this in accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, territorial integrity, and peace and security in the region? (I. Prohić, Schreckgespenst der Sezession 2017/01/13)

18. In what way did the German government present its position regarding the celebration of January 9 in Banja Luka to a) entity President Dodik, b) BiH Presidency member Ivanić, c) the government of Serbia?

19. To what extent does the German government see a real danger of secession of the Republika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina?

20. What political interests and what strategy does the Russian leadership pursue in relation to BiH, and especially its territorial integrity - in the opinion of the German government and the intelligence information available to it?

21. What significance for the security and stability of the Western Balkans, in the opinion of the German government, does the foreign policy course that Russia has pursued in recent years, especially after the annexation of Crimea, which was not in accordance with international law, and after the military destabilization of Ukraine?

22. How can and should the international community concretely act to eliminate the danger of the threatened secession of the Republika Srpska from BiH?

23. What consequences could the threatened secession of the Republika Srpska have - in the opinion of the German government - on security in Europe?

24. How should the international community react if the political leadership of the Republika Srpska holds a referendum on the secession of the RS from BiH?

25. What conclusions does the German government draw from the fact that the US government on January 17, 2017, imposed sanctions on Milorad Dodik for disregarding the Constitutional Court's ruling and violating the Dayton Peace Agreement, and what is the position of the German government on whether the European Union should impose sanctions against the political leadership of the Republika Srpska?

(Deutsche Welle)