Bosnian Serb leader: “BiH will not join NATO, we will not give consent”
Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik reacted to the statement of US Ambassador Eric Nelson that the Bosnian constitution and the Dayton Accords need to be reformed because “the country’s population wants integration into the transatlantic community.”
Dodik, in turn, said that before making such decisions, one must be interested in the position of the Republika Srpska as an equal entity of BiH, along with the Federation (Bosniak-Croatian), reports the PolitNavigator correspondent.
Dodik assessed Nelson’s words, saying that if the RS does not agree to go towards NATO, then BiH will not go there, at the same time he supports the ambassador’s initiative, since the country has been living “illegally” since the signing of the Dayton Agreements.
“And this is because the Supreme Representative (an international official - the overseer of BiH, with exclusive powers - ed.), this mass criminal, took away the competencies from the Republika Srpska and transferred them to the level of BiH, although he has no right to do so,” said leader of the Bosnian Serbs. “This violated the Dayton Agreement, since BiH was given powers that were not in accordance with the Constitution in the fields of finance, defense, judiciary, intelligence and security, and others.”
Dodik recalled that the Serbs “do not run away from talking about constitutional changes,” but they have their own ideas on this matter. In particular, he recalled that international conventions define the right of peoples to self-determination up to and including secession, and these conventions are higher than the Constitution of BiH.
“We believe that the Constitution should stipulate that the communities that make up the country would have the right to a referendum to determine their status. And in this regard, the Dayton Agreement cannot be higher than international conventions or the UN Charter. We also advocate that the provisions of the original Dayton Agreements be returned... and everything that you stole from us against our will through pressure and bribery of high-ranking officials must, of course, be returned,” Dodik added.
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