ZAGREB, October 28, 2018 – The deputy chairman of the Croatian parliamentary foreign affairs committee Joško Klisović has said the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) after the election of Željko Komšić as the Presidency’s Croat member thanks to Bosniak votes could deepen further, cause new political conflicts and stop BiH on its European Union journey.
Speaking for the Bosnian Večernji List daily of Saturday, Klisović said the key political forces’ disregard for a Constitutional Court decision on the election legislation would cause a serious political crisis and that this was a test for the country’s rule of law. “Without the rule of law, there’s no EU membership nor trust of citizens and constituent peoples in their own state’s institutions.”
Klisović, of the opposition Social Democrats (SDP), said he expected EU institutions to insist on the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and technically help the political forces in the country change the election legislation. He added that Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković’s initiative in the EU in that regard was too late.
Klisović said that Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had additionally disrupted relations at her meetings in Moscow and Ankara. “Her actions have only irritated the citizens of BiH, notably Bosniaks, without whom election legislation can’t be changed, and she also hurt Croats’ interests.”
Klisović said the crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina could deepen further if, contrary to a Constitutional Court ruling, Croat representatives without the people’s legitimacy were elected to the upper houses of the state and Federation entity parliaments. He said that ignoring the ruling would lead to a constitutional and political crisis as it would be difficult to legally form the government, adding that any other attempt to form it could be contested at the Constitutional Court.
Speaking of Komšić’s election to the BiH Presidency, Klisović said it was legal but contrary to the spirit of the Dayton peace agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He said Croatia’s delegation made a mistake during the peace negotiations in Dayton in 1995 by not ensuring a more precise definition in the BiH constitution or an interpretive statement to confirm that each people in BiH elected their own representative in the Presidency. He added that the delegation was told that was envisaged under article 5 of the constitution.
Klisović said it was necessary to change the BiH constitution, making its provisions more precise, and to enable ethnic minorities to run for the highest positions. In order to do that, “you must generate serious support from the international community… and assure Bosniaks that you don’t intend to destroy BiH… and that you want to constructively work on its well-being by retaining your national identity and rights,” he was quoted as saying.
