ANYTHING
BUT DEMOCRACY – EU’S POLICY IN BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA (BIH)
An EU-brokered agreement to bring BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA’S constitution into accordance with the 2009 EUROPEAN Court of
Human Rights’ Sejdic-Finci verdict does not serve to create a functional
democratic system in BIH, with equal rights and opportunities for all its
citizens, but is rather an attempt to appease the most narrow and chauvinistic
interests of BIH’S oligarchs. See: THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY (IC) AND ORGANIZED CRIME (OC) ARE THE MAIN OBSTACLES IN
SOLVING THE CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (BIH) http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2011/07/bosnia-european-unions-stepchild.html
On the heels of an outrageous
“bailout” package for the Republic of CYPRUS that punished ordinary GREEK
CYPRIOTS for the organized brigand of their politicians and bankers, the EUROPEAN
UNION (EU) has made another generous offer to its long-time protectorate, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA.
Leaders of the seven leading political parties in BIH convened in Brussels in
an attempt to, finally, agree to a set of constitutional reforms necessitated
by the 2009
European Court of Human Rights’ Sejdic-Finci verdict.
 |
| The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia's constitution violates European human rights law. |
The court then
found that BIH’S present constitutional order, a result of the 1995 Dayton
Peace Agreement, was patently discriminatory in not allowing members of BIH’S
non-“constitutive peoples” (i.e. anyone other than self-declared BOSNIAKS,
SERBS and CROATS) to stand for many public offices, including the three member
presidency.
BIH, AN OLIGARCH-DOMINATED “APARTHEID REGIME”?
So, four years since the original
decision, and a decade and a half since the signing of the Dayton Agreement –
and, accordingly, the emergence of a completely unworkable constitutional order
in BIH – what has the EU offered to the BOSNIANS? Concrete steps to establish substantive
respect for basic human and democratic rights, and a rationalization of the
public administration?
Apparently, deaf, blind and mute to
the suggestion that what they had produced in BIH was an oligarch-dominated, apartheid
regime, the international community (the EU, in particular) insists on
experimenting with “solutions” that, as Jakob Finci notes, would not be
tolerated in any other EUROPEAN country for even a moment. See: http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/bosnia-and-herzegovina-bih-stagnation.html
This particular set of solutions is
worth examining closer. The offer, which six of the seven parties have agreed
to (the oligarchs in question – including the SDA who, for the moment, remains
in opposition) is based on the following:
INDEPENDENT
SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (SNSD) SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY (SDP) APPEARS TO BE THE
MAIN GENERATORS OF THE CURRENT CRISIS
- BIH will be divided into two primary electoral districts: the FEDERATION OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (FBIH) and the REPUBLIKA SRPSKA (RS).
- The FBIH will be further divided into ten additional electoral districts, corresponding to the existing cantonal borders, which will each elect three electors, on the basis of which two presidents will be chosen.
- The RS will be one-single electoral district and will elect one president.
- It seems Brcko District will be allowed to choose which method of the two they prefer. It remains unclear, however, (a) who exactly will choose, and (b) whether this will mean that Brcko itself, at least electorally, would become part of either the FBiH or the RS – thus negating the whole premise of the existence of the District, in the first place.
It remains to be seen how any of the
above addresses the question of discrimination of minorities. The EU’s great
suggestion has, essentially, boiled down to removing overt ethnic labels on
electoral ballots. Thus, no longer will the candidate be, for instance a “SERB,”
he will just be a candidate of the SERB Democratic Party (SDS). And let’s not
kid ourselves, it will indeed be a “he.”
"ETHNIC CLEANSING - INSTITUTIONALIZED" BY IC?
Moreover, in practice, the EU has
ensured with this proposal that the results of the SERB nationalist campaign of
ethnic cleansing and genocide in eastern BIH, in particular, will remain institutionalized.
See: INFLUENTIAL ISLAMIC COMMUNITY
IN BOSNIA http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2012/07/ethnic-rift-key-hindrance-to-bosnias.html.
The president chosen by the RS will
continue to be a SERB nationalist. How this addresses the concerns of SERBS in
FBiH or BOSNIAK or CROAT returnees in the RS (currently harassed
by authorities) is anyone’s guess. It also remains to be seen how this
same proposal will mesh with alleged ongoing, American- led efforts, to
simultaneously shrink the number of cantons in the FBiH.
None of this should come as a
surprise to even semi-interested observers of EU’s policy towards BIH. Whether
it is close studies of EUROPEAN policy in the late eighties and nineties,
or the actual
private conversations between European and American leaders during the
same period.
COMMITMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC NORMS IN BIH, HAS
NEVER BEEN A TOP PRIORITY FOR THE IC.
There seems to be no effort creating
a functional democratic system in BIH, with equal rights and opportunities for
all its citizens, but an attempt to appease the most narrow and chauvinistic
interests of BIH’S oligarchs. The thought being, apparently, that if one can
appease the big
men, then “we” can finally rid ourselves of these squabbling Slavs all
together.
If this proposal is to become a
reality, the EU will have only succeeded in ensuring a SDP/SDA, HDZ and a
SDS/SNSD presidency for the foreseeable future. See: http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/bosnia-and-herzegovinas-internal-twist.html
It will have done nothing to include the Roma, Jewish or other minority communities in BIH, nor anything to include BOSNIANS as such in the political process. This is merely further international sanctioning of the post-Dayton status quo in BiH – oligarch-mandated division of spoils and the creation of criminal, ethnically cleansed, feudal “statelets”.
YOUTH OF FBIH FAVOR APPOINTING A TECHNOCRAT ADMINISTRATION
The
entire situation has become so repentant, that even Nasa Stranka (Our Party),
in particular, – the small, social-liberal party, and the hope of many young,
progressive BOSNIANS – has suggested that the on-going non-functioning of the
FBiH be resolved by the appointment of a technocrat
administration. Meanwhile, the once social democratic SDP has abandoned
any premise of actual social democracy, and today insists only on the Office of
High Representative (OHR) resolving
its disputes with the SDA. For their part, the OHR these days mostly
keeps vague and repetitive declarations about “good governance.” Thus,
progressive, party politics in BIH end up in technocracy and inter-party
squabbles. See: POTENTIAL
POWER OF YOUTH MOVEMENTS IN THE BALKANS and BOSNIA,
CURSED BY EUROPEAN UNION (EU) TECHNOCRATS http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2011/08/bosnia-cursed-by-european-union-eu.html
Zeljko Komsic, former SDP member and
now independent CROAT member of the BIH Presidency, has announced the formation
of yet another party – the Democratic Front
of BiH. While Komsic is doubtlessly the single most popular politician
in the country, it seems highly unlikely that yet another party will do much to
salvage BIH’S future. At least Komsic, however, has identified the missing
ingredient in BIH politics: democracy.
While the
people of CYPRUS, GREECE, ITALY, and SPAIN – not to mention the on-going
revolutions in the Arab world – are in the streets, dismantling the edifices of
their crumbling regimes, BOSNIANS remain sequestered, their hopes pinned to the
fate of the national football team. Until this fact changes, nothing will
change. Time and again, the EU, the US and the domestic political class have
betrayed the genuine aspirations of BOSNIANS for reconciliation and democracy. Citizens
of BIH have only themselves to look to now for a way out of this
institutionalized crisis. See: BALKAN
PEOPLE FEEL THAT THE EU NO LONGER EMANATES CONFIDENCE http://geopoliticsrst.blogspot.com.ar/2013/01/crisis-in-western-balkans-integration.html
Adapted by
Geopolitical Analysis and Monitoring from the original article written by
Jasmin Mujanović
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