In the context of increasing tensions between Bosniacs, Croats and Serbs, Washington has sent a special envoy to Bosnia and Herzegovina to help the Balkan country with its long-delayed elections and constitutional reforms.
Before visiting Sarajevo, Matthew A. Palmer, the special envoy for election reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the US State Department, had a conversation with several Croatian journalists, including the list of EURACTIV’s partners Jutarnji.
“How hard do I want to push? Very strong. I am committed to doing my best, and the United States is committed to doing our best,” Palmer said in explaining his ambitions for this visit.
He added that there is no need for a big stick, neither the United States nor the European Union. But this also means that there are no carrots.
Palmer will travel to Sarajevo on Wednesday with Angelina Eichhorst, European and Central Asia Managing Director of the European External Action Agency, the European Union’s diplomatic agency, to discuss elections and constitutional reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia plans to hold presidential and parliamentary elections in October 2022, but it needs to pass amendments to the electoral law before the end of 2021, as no changes can be made in the election year.
A key issue is that the political leaders of Bosnia and Croatia cannot agree on how members of the Croatian president should be selected.
The Bosnian Croats complained that Željko Komšić, now a member of the country’s tripartite presidency, Croatia, was elected by Bosnian votes, the main country of the Croatian-Bosnian Federation, one of the two Bosnian entities after the war.
“The United States is deeply concerned about the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, recent tensions and frictions, and the Secretary of State. [Antony Blinken] I am required to pay special attention to the electoral reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including limited and targeted constitutional reforms. This is an issue that the minister attaches great importance to,” Palmer confirmed.
Bosnian analysts accuse the Bosnian Croats and Croats of not being constructive in challenging the Bosnians and obstructing reforms and of colluding with the Bosnian Serbs.
The two recent meetings may add fuel to the fire.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic met with Milorad Dodik, a Serb member of the Presidential Palace of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Zagreb on Tuesday. He publicly advocated the separation of Serbs. Dragan Čović, chairman of HDZ BiH, the largest Croatian political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina, met with Serbian President Alexander Vucic in Belgrade.
Therefore, as the guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian War in 1995, the presidents of the two neighboring countries met with the two ethnic leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but did not meet with the Bosnian Croat leaders.
Finding a balance between the concerns of the Croatian community and the various rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), especially the Sejdić-Finci rule, is the most difficult problem to overcome.
The unimplemented 2009 ruling has ordered Bosnia to remove the race prefix from the election of presidential members.
So far, only the so-called constituent countries-Serbs, Croats, and Bosniacs-can run for the three-person, inter-racial presidency of Bosnia.
If the ruling is enforced, any Bosnian citizen, regardless of race, can be elected to the presidential seat.
“To achieve a sustainable electoral model is in line with the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights and the mantra of one country, two entities, three constituent nations and others. This is complicated, but it is possible to achieve it. This remains unchanged. ,” Palmer told reporters.
For electoral reform, an agreement needs to be reached between HDZ BiH, the largest party in Croatia, and SDA, the main Bosnian party.
But constitutional reform — limited and targeted, as Palmer has repeatedly emphasized — also requires opposition, because it requires a two-thirds majority in parliament.
“A balanced agreement will support the functions of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Croatian and Bosnian entities). A stronger and more powerful Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina will help stabilize the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will also be the Serb on which the Dayton system is based. The Republic (the Serbian entity) provides a balance”, Palmer said.
The United States and the European Union are applying the wartime model, and now have political means: the 1994 Washington Agreement stopped the incidental war between the Croats and the Bosnians, opening up space for the Serbs’ military defeat and peace.
“This is feasible. It is not easy. If it were easy, it would have been done. People are asked to make some difficult choices and difficult compromises,” Palmer concluded, adding that he believes reforms will help. Bosnia and Herzegovina made progress on its European road.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
