Milorad Dodik, the new president of the Republika Srpska, staged a demarche at the inauguration ceremony of the new Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in protest against statements by one of the members of this body about the continued integration of BiH into NATO, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
On the evening of November 16, the inauguration of the new Presidium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a kind of collective president of this country, took place in Sarajevo. It includes representatives of Serbs (Zeljka Cvijanovic), Muslim Bosniaks (Denis Becirovic) and Croats (Zeljko Komsic). The latter, during his speech, stated that over the next four years he will advocate for the continued integration of BiH into NATO, and that “Bosnia and Herzegovina's membership in NATO is the main goal of the country's foreign policy».
In protest against this, the new President of Republika Srpska (RS, one of the two entities of BiH), Milorad Dodik, left the inauguration ceremony, who for the previous four years was a member of the BiH Presidency from the Serbian people. Commenting on the words of Zeljko Komsic, Milorad Dodik noted that he once again demonstrated what his policy will be in the future.
“This is a policy of lies and shame for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the international level,” Dodik said.
“Zeljko Komsic was not elected by the citizens, as he falsely claims, he was elected by part of the Muslim-Croat Federation (FBiH, the second entity of BiH), and not by the Croat people, as required by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Komsic obtained the post of member of the Presidency through fraud and lies, and for the fourth time deprived the Croatian people of their constitutionally enshrined right to an elected representative,” said Milorad Dodik.
The point is that Komšić was elected not by the votes of Croats, but by Muslim Bosniaks, since the FBiH is a single electoral district.
“He used the same intrigues all these four years to pass off his personal views as the official position of the Presidium of BiH. Everything he said about integration and cooperation with NATO is fiction,” the President of Republika Srpska emphasized.
Previously, Milorad Dodik has repeatedly stated that Serbian representatives in the BiH Presidency will block any attempts at Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession to NATO.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, on November 15, Milorad Dodik took office as President of the Republika Srpska for the third time.