LOCAL PRESS

 

Serbia stands ready to boost its UN peacekeeping role (Tanjug)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said during a meeting with United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous in Belgrade on Monday that Serbia stood ready to increase its contributions to UN peacekeeping operations.Nikolic stressed the importance of UN peacekeeping forces and their contribution to the preservation of stability in the world, especially in Southeastern Europe.“The role of UNMIK in KosovoandMetohija is extremely valuable to Serbia and we hope that the scope and mandate of the mission will remain unchanged,” said President Nikolic.Serbia is doing all it can to maintain and promote peace and stability in the region, despite the provocations coming from various sides, Nikolic stressed, according to a release from the Serbian president’s press office.Herve Ladsous thanked Nikolic for Serbia’s contribution to preservation of stability and expressed gratitude for its supporting the organization of the regional roundtable on peacekeeping operations that opened today in Belgrade.The UN under-secretary-general expressed his sincere support for Serbia on its road to membership of the European Union and emphasized the role of Serbia as regional leader.We really appreciate Serbia’s contribution to peacekeeping operations across the globe, since Serbian soldiers have showed a high level of training and a high degree of professionalism, Ladsous said, adding that the number of conflicts in the world had decreased, but that, by complexity and intensity, they were more demanding than before.

 

Serbia as regional leader in peacekeeping missions (Tanjug)

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic says taking part in UN peacekeeping missions was a way for Serbia to contribute to the promotion of sustainable peace, stability and development.

The country would continue to be a partner with all who were willing to contribute to the preservation of international peace, security and prosperity through UN engagement, said the foreign minister. Speaking at a two-day regional conference on the participation of Western Balkan countries in UN peacekeeping operations, which began in Belgrade today, Dacic stressed that Serbia supported proactive multilateralism and that he saw regional integration and regional cooperation as the most significant segment of its foreign policy, without which there was no prosperity and stability in the true sense of those words. “As a peacekeeping contributor, Serbia advocates for and supports continuous dialogue within the UN, aimed at improving results and efficiency of peacekeeping missions in response to new challenges and demands of the modern era,” Dacic said. Dacic said that Serbia was a regional leader when it came to the participation in UN peacekeeping missions and the eighth biggest contributor on the European continent. Since 2003, Serbia has been working continuously to improve its peacekeeping engagement in terms of both quality and quantity, Dacic said, pointing out that more than 200 members of the Serbian Army were currently serving under the UN flag and announcing the possibility of increasing the volume of participation in peacekeeping missions following the recent adoption of the annual plan of participation of the Serbian Army and other Serbia’s defense forces in multinational operations. Recalling UN Security Council Resolution 1244, under which the UNMIK mission was operational in Kosovo and Metohija together with KFOR and EULEX, Dacic stressed that the status-neutral operation of UNMIK and all UN organizations and programs in Kosovo was particularly important in the context of support for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
Dacic said Serbia was a part of the region that had gone through a very difficult and challenging period and it therefore approached the process of building and preserving peace very responsibly.  “We are promoting regional cooperation, mutual understanding and reconciliation, quite aware that peace and stability has no alternative, and that it is easy to spark old distrust and much harder to build true understanding,” said Dacic. Observing that threats to world peace are becoming ever more frequent, Dacic said that peacekeeping is a common responsibility that requires constant engagement and dedication of all peacekeeping contributors in order to help the UN achieve concrete results. Taking part in the two-day regional conference on the participation of Western Balkan countries in UN peacekeeping operations will be United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous, Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, senior officials of the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations, officials of Western Balkan countries, representatives of peacekeeping partner countries and the head of the UN Office in Belgrade, Peter Due.

 

Gasic: Peacekeeping missions bring Serbia closer to EU (Tanjug)

The participation of the Serbian Armed Forces in EU peacekeeping missions and maintaining the status of military neutrality contributes to getting Serbia closer to EU membership, which is one of our main foreign policy priorities, Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic said on Monday.
Addressing a regional conference on the participation of Western Balkan countries in UN peacekeeping missions, which opened in Belgrade on Monday, Gasic said that, by participating in peacekeeping operations, Serbia is demonstrating that it is an active factor in preserving international peace and security, thus continuing its tradition of peace-building and reaffirming its reputation. “Politically, the participation in European Union operations as part of the joint security and defense policy contributes to getting Serbia closer to EU membership, one of our main foreign policy priorities. Serbia is strategically oriented towards being part of the collective security system, while maintaining the status of military neutrality,” Gasic said. Security is indivisible and is not achieved only by protecting the borders of your own country, the minister said. “We believe that long-term peace is only possible through constant development of good-neighbourly relations, regional cooperation and mutual understanding. To that end, alongside regional countries, Serbia is already participating in building joint capabilities for engagement in the region and beyond,” Gasic said. As an example of this, he cited an initiative to form the Balkan medical forces, which would include individuals and units from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia. Speaking about Serbia’s participation in peacekeeping operations, Gasic said that the number of Serbian peacekeepers is ever-increasing, noting that the number of troops deployed in 2013-2014 is almost larger than the past decade’s total. An infantry company dispatched to the UNIFIL in Lebanon is the most significant increase, as is an autonomous team for protecting ships as part of the Atlanta maritime operation, which protects a UN Food Program ship from pirate attacks in Somali waters, Gasic said. At this time, 210 Ministry of Defense staff and Serbian Armed Forces members participate in seven UN missions, with another 27 in three EU missions being implemented pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions, he added. “I proudly point out that we devote particular attention to the number of women participating in multinational operations. Out of the 789 Serbian Armed Forces members who took part in multinational operations in the period between 2002 and 2013, 69 were women, accounting for 8.7 percent,” Gasic said. By the end of the year, Serbia will send 68 light field hospital staff to the UN mission in the Central African Republic, as well as a medical team to the EU mission in Mali, with engagement of a force protection platoon in UNIFIL Sector West in Lebanon planned to start as well, the Defense Minister also announced.

 

Office for Kosovo and Metohija: End violence (Beta)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija has stated that the frequent violent scenes are unacceptable, both those in Kosovo and the ones in Serbia proper, and they have to end. The Office is worried about the events that have been happening after the incident at the soccer match Serbia-Albania. Both Serbs and Albanians are called upon to refrain from attacking their neighbors and fellow citizens, and to not allow for the escalation of unrests.

 

Miscevic: Condition is Brussels agreement, not distance from Moscow (Danas)

The discrepancies between the foreign policies of Serbia and the EU will not slow down the European integration and opening of the first chapters in the negotiations, the Head of the Serbian negotiating team with the EU Tanja Miscevic said. She has pointed that the degree of harmonization with the European position is around 66%, but there are some differences relating to the introduction of sanctions to Russia. According to Miscevic, at this stage of the preparations for the opening of first negotiating chapters it is clear that the prerequisite is the implementation of the Brussels agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. Speaking of the South Stream, she said that it is a European project, whose goal is to supply gas and thus connect the EU members-states with Russia, and Serbia just happens to be on the line.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Izetbegovic, Sorensen and Inzko: Government must be quickly formed (Fena)

The Chairman of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic talked with the head of the EU Delegation in B&H and special EU representative to B&H Peter Sorensen and the High Representative in B&H Valentin Inzko in two separate meetings. Sorensen and Inzko congratulated Izetbegovic on his reelection as Member of the B&H Presidency and the electoral victory of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). Interlocutors agreed that it is necessary to quickly form legislative and executive branches of government on all levels, the B&H Presidency said in a statement. They jointly evaluated that the newly elected government should primarily focus on economic development, employment, improving living standards, combatting corruption and crime and speeding the process of B&H’s integration in EU and NATO.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Albanian prime minister's visit to Serbia postponed (www.aa.com.tr/en, 20 October 2014)

Prime Minister of Albania was scheduled to visit Belgrade on October 22

TIRANA, Albania

The Albanian prime minister’s visit to Serbia has been postponed to November 10 as tensions between the two countries mounted in the aftermath of a violence-stricken football match on October 14, it was announced Sunday.

Prime Minister Edi Rama was scheduled to make his visit to Belgrade on October 22, the first by an Albanian premier in 68 years.

According to a statement issued by the Albanian prime minister’s office, Rama spoke with Serbian Prime Minister Alexander Vucic on Sunday in which both leaders agreed that violent incidents that accompanied the Serbia-Albania match had been “extremely undesirable.”

“The two prime ministers clearly disagreed with what happened in Belgrade, but they agreed they must not and will not lose the opportunity to meet and work together in the interest of regional stability, and open a new chapter in bilateral economic and political relations,” the statement said.

Tensions between the two countries remained high in the aftermath of a Euro 2016 qualifying match that was abandoned when chaos erupted on the pitch.

Serbia blamed the incident on a “controversial” flag attached to a drone that flew over the pitch during the match, calling it a “provocation”. The flag depicted a map that showed areas where ethnic Albanians live in the Balkans, including Kosovo and parts of Serbia.

Albania blamed Serbian fans for desecrating their flag, abusing them and throwing hard objects on the football field. Albanian authorities also accused Serbian fans and Serbian security forces for manhandling the Albanian players.

Despite this, Albanian prime minister Edi Rama, said during an interview on CNN last Friday that he was ready to go to Serbia, if the Serbians were ready to host him, while Serbian prime minister replied saying that he would decide over the weekend.

Albanians and Serbians are still at odds due to the long-running tensions between the two countries over the Kosovo Republic, which has a majority of ethnic Albanian population that remained under Serbia during the last century.

Serbian soldiers killed more than 10,000 Kosovo Albanians during the Kosovo war between 1998 and 1999. The war between Kosovo Liberation Army and Serbian forces came to an end after NATO intervened.

Kosovo declared its independence in February 2008. More than 100 states, including the U.S, France, Germany and Turkey have already recognized the country. Serbia still does not recognize the country.

 

Albania flag-burning in Belgrade escalates tensions (AFP, 20 October 2014)

Tirana: Albania on Sunday condemned the burning of its flag during a football match in Serbia, the latest in a series of incidents aggravating political tensions between Belgrade and Tirana.

The Albanian foreign ministry urged Serbian authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and called on Serbian politicians to “distance themselves from those acts that are... harmful for the future and stability of the Balkans”.

The incident took place during the match between Serbian first division sides Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade on Saturday, when Red Star fans were photographed setting fire to an Albanian flag.

The incident further threw into doubt a planned visit of Prime Minister Edi Rama to Serbia, the first by an Albanian premier in 68 years.

Rama was due in Belgrade on Wednesday, but there were already questions over whether the visit would go ahead after the violent end of a Serbia-Albania football match on October 14.

The Euro 2016 qualifying tie in the Serbian capital had to be abandoned after a drone carried a pro-Albanian flag over the stadium, sparking a brawl on and off the pitch.

European football’s governing body UEFA has opened a formal disciplinary probe into both Serbia and Albania over the violence.

Serbian leaders labelled the incident a planned “political provocation”.

Rama said on Friday he had decided to travel to Belgrade, but his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic was still undecided whether to allow the visit.

Belgrade accused Rama’s brother of controlling the drone from his seat in the stadium’s executive box. But Olsi Rama, who later returned to Tirana with the Albanian team to a hero’s welcome, denied the claims.

Following the incident, hooligans attacked several ethnic-Albanian owned shops in Serbia, notably in the northern town of Novi Sad. A Molotov cocktail was thrown into one bakery, while several others had their windows broken, local media reported.

Marko Djuric, who heads the Serbian government’s office for Kosovo, condemned the attacks and voiced fears of retaliation against ethnic Serbs in its former province.

He urged Belgrade to find and punish the culprits as soon as possible.

“I am very worried for the security of Kosovo Serbs who are already exposed to provocations and pressures and who risk being further threatened after those unfortunate events,” he said in a statement.

 

With theatrics, Putin keeps rivals off balance (The New York Times, by Jim Yardley and David M. Herszenhorn, 18 October 2014)

He was at it again this week.

First, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia stopped in Belgrade for a military parade evocative of the Cold War. He questioned Kosovo’s sovereignty, took a swipe at President Barack Obama in the Serbian media and reached a summit meeting in Milan so far behind schedule that he was hours late for a private evening meeting with Europe’s most powerful leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

Russia's economy may be struggling due to sanctions but Putin's popularity has never been higher. As Sonia Legg reports sweatshirts marking the President's birthday have been selling like hot cakes in Moscow. Reuters

Nor was Putin done. When he left Merkel at roughly 2 a.m. Friday, his entourage streaked through Milan to the home of his friend and Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. The men talked and enjoyed truffles until about 4 a.m., whereupon Putin departed, leaving him barely four hours before he joined European leaders, including Ukraine’s president, Petro O. Poroshenko, for a pivotal breakfast meeting.

For Putin, the helter-skelter blitz through Milan was only the latest demonstration of an unpredictable, often theatrical, diplomatic style that he has employed during the Ukraine crisis to throw his rivals off balance. This time he kept Merkel waiting late at night. Last month he upstaged Obama on the eve of a NATO summit meeting focused on Russian aggression when he unexpectedly announced a seven-point peace plan for Ukraine - written on the back of a napkin as he flew for a state visit in Mongolia.

“He loves you and me and everybody else looking at him and trying to figure him out,” said Nina L. Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and the great-granddaughter of Nikita S. Khrushchev. “He’s an exhibitionist.” She added, “He pushes the envelope all the time, and he gets away with it.”

This week, his presence in Western Europe for the first time in four months and the rare occasion of a face-to-face meeting with Poroshenko - coupled with the bite of Western economic sanctions and falling oil prices -raised expectations among some European leaders that the Russian president might be poised to deliver a major compromise in the Ukraine crisis.

But if progress was made on some issues, including a longstanding dispute between Ukraine and Russia on gas pricing, Putin showed little appetite to deliver any major breakthroughs. His entrance upstaged the array of global leaders who had gathered in Milan for an Asia-Europe summit meeting, and the Ukraine crisis dimmed attention on subjects like the Ebola outbreak or climate change.

If European leaders were expecting him to be humbled, they had another thing coming. Not only did he exude his usual confidence, but Putin even told an off-color joke about the anatomical difference between a grandpa and a grandma at a late afternoon news conference.

After the breakfast meeting, Merkel and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain expressed frustration, as Putin apparently rebuffed their entreaties that he pressure pro-Russian rebels to put off local elections they have scheduled for November in defiance of the Ukrainian government, which has set nationwide local elections for Dec. 7.

To Cameron, Putin had not yet budged, or budged enough, on any of the contested issues.

“And if those things don’t happen, then clearly the European Union, Britain included, must keep in place the sanctions and the pressure so that we don’t have this kind of conflict in our continent,” Cameron said. (Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, countered by telling Russian reporters in Milan that some European leaders were obstinate and had refused to take an “objective approach.”)

“There’s a ‘Waiting for Godot’ quality to Western analysis,” said Matthew Rojansky, a Russia expert at the Kennan Institute, a research organization in Washington. “It’s always waiting for Putin to blink, to be cowed or shamed or humbled.”

Rojansky continued: “He stands for Russian resurgence. Ask yourself: When was Peter the Great humble? When was Catherine humble? That’s not part of the role that they play.”

If Putin is easy to caricature, with his macho photo ops, posing shirtless in the Russian wilderness, for instance, his style underpins a method. Even with Russia’s economy steadily grinding downward, with a recession looming and the ruble hitting new lows almost daily, Putin is wildly popular at home, using the state media to stir up a nationalistic fervor that has sown unease in the West, but that has created broad public support for his Ukraine policies within Russia.

Just as he introduced his peace plan on a napkin last month, Putin set the stage for Milan with a visit Sunday to Sochi, home of the recent Winter Olympics. There, he was watching the final laps of Russia’s first Formula One Grand Prix, the second of three major sporting events that Putin has personally helped organize, when his aides abruptly announced that he had ordered an end to “military exercises” in western Russia and was pulling back more than 17,000 troops from along the border with Ukraine.

The timing was impeccable, even if Western leaders remained skeptical that the realities on the Ukrainian border had actually changed.

Putin has apparently calculated that European outrage over Ukraine has limits, given economic ties between Europe and Russia, as well as European dependence on Russian energy. He could, however, face a tougher reception when he travels next month to a Group of 20 summit meeting in Brisbane, Australia, a country that lost 28 citizens in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine.

On Friday, the area where Putin hinted at the most wiggle room was on the gas dispute, where he said Russia was prepared to compromise, to a degree, although he pointedly noted that Russia would no longer sell gas on credit to Ukraine.

Putin also understands that Europe is far from unified on sanctions and on how hard a line to take with the Kremlin. In Serbia, a country with aspirations of joining the European Union, Putin was greeted like a Roman proconsul, cheered by throngs during a military parade and awarded the Order of the Republic, Serbia’s highest honor.

Aware of Serbia’s own diplomatic balancing act, Putin said nothing during his visit that would embarrass Serbian leaders before their European partners, restricting himself to remarks about the historic role played by the Soviet Union in defeating fascism in World War II.

Yet Putin’s showmanship appears to be wearing thin with Europe’s leaders, particularly the most important one, Merkel. Early in the Ukraine crisis, she was seen potentially as a trusted broker, herself a child of Soviet East Germany, someone with a genuine understanding of the Russian perspective. But as Putin has repeatedly finessed or ignored commitments on Ukraine, Merkel has become increasingly antagonistic, supporting sanctions and saying recently that they could be left in place for a very long time.

Putin’s tardy arrival for their Thursday night meeting probably did not help. (“And this is a woman he likes; this is a woman he actually respects,” Khrushcheva said.) He came to her hotel about 11 p.m. on Thursday and remained for more than two hours. Photographs showed the two leaders seated across a table with aides. When he later arrived at Berlusconi’s apartment, it was apparent that his meeting with the German chancellor had not gone particularly well.

“He didn’t say that progress was made,” said Valentino Valentini, a longtime aide to Berlusconi who was present for their meeting. “The impression was that their positions were still far apart.”

That Putin would make time for Berlusconi - especially at 2 a.m. - might seem odd, although the two men do have a colorful history, vacationing together and becoming close friends.

“Every time Putin comes through, he comes and visits,” Valentini noted.

For Berlusconi, who remains a political force in Italy, if a diminished one, the meeting with Putin is a political bonus. Il Giornale, a Milan-based newspaper owned by Berlusconi, wrote that the meeting proved “the true interlocutor with the Russian president is the Cavalier,” alluding to one of Berlusconi’s nicknames.

Valentini denied the two men had spent an evening in revelry, as has often been rumored of their past meetings. At 2 in the morning,“ he said, ”I’m afraid it wasn’t too much of a wild party."

 

Bosnia's SDP in turmoil after election failure (Journal of Turkish Weekly, 18 October 2014)

After the party's vote dismal result in the recent elections, the Social Democratic Party is facing a crisis as Zlatko Lagumdzija steps down as leader since 1997.
Damir Hadzic and Nermin Niksic, two key figures in Bosnia's Social Democratic Party, SDP, have resigned decision-making posts in the party after its debacle in last Sunday's elections.
At a crisis press conference on October 16, the SDP said an extraordinary party congress would soon choose a new leadership.
Zlatko Lagumdzija, the veteran party leader, confirmed that he would not be running for the post again.
In a speech full of nautical references, he said the SDP was sailing “in a rough sea" but, with its existing crew on board, they would "bring the SDP into a peaceful harbour” following the recent election “shipwreck”.
Niksic, general secretary of the SDP, and Prime Minister of Bosnia's Federation entity, said he was resigning from decision-making positions in the party because of the election results.
“I think I am co-responsible for the catastrophic result of the SDP,” he said. “All of us in the SDP must lay out our bills for what happened in the elections. A congress of the SDP needs to find a new leadership.”
Hadzic - currently vice-president of the SDP and Bosnia's Communication Minister - said his resignation was “a moral obligation”. Returning to his leader's maritime theme, he added: “Someone needs to bring this ship to a harbour”.
Other members of the leadership of the party are expected to resign shortly. The date of the congress will reportedly be set next week.
At the 2010 general elections, the Social Democratic Party won more than 265.000 votes for the state parliament and a similar number for the Federation entity parliament. It was thus the clear winner among the Bosniak population.
Having been in opposition for years, criticizing the parties that had ruled for so long, SDP then represented the idea of change from the old ethnic-based parties.
Expectations of the SDP soon vanished after the 2010 elections, however. It failed to form a government for 16 months. When it did finally form a coalition of six parties, it did not take long for the coalition to fall apart.
The party expelled the largest Bosniak party, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, from the government and brought in a new partner, the Alliance for a Better Future, SBB. It also hatched political deals with the largest Serbian party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, before later forcing out the SBB.
Zeljko Komsic, the SDP's most popular senior member, who twice won a seat on Bosnia's state Presidency, quit the party in frustration.
At the general elections last Sunday, the SDP won only around 80,000 votes for the state parliament and ended up as the fifth-largest party in the Federation.
Many voters clearly deserted to Komsic's party, the Democratic Front, DF, which was only formed in 2013 but won around 130,000 votes.
Lagumdzija has led the SDP since 1997. Many senior figures left the party saying it was impossible to work with him, including its first president, the late Nijaz Durakovic, Miro Lazovic, Ivo Komsic, Emir Suljagic and - lately - Komsic.

 

Bosnia’s Elections, A Hope for Change? (WorldBulletin, by Elif Zaim, 18 October 2014)

A constitutional change is vital for the country’s future since this structure forms a stalemate promoting ethnic politics through usage of ethnic and regional quotas eliminating the prospects of a civic alternative

Last Sunday on 12th October, Bosnians went to the polls for the 7th time in almost 20 years of peace since 1995. While there were almost 3.3 million eligible voters, the turnout was relatively low resting on 54% due to the widespread hopelessness of the citizens.

In this election a total number of 65 parties, 24 coalitions and 24 independent candidates were contesting for the posts at the national, entity and local levels. Not surprisingly, once again nationalists were the winners.

According to the results, on the Bosniak side, the leader of SDA party Bakir Izetbegovic became the member of the tripartite Bosnian Presidency. While on the other hand Serbian voters had made a partial shift in their votes choosing the opposition leader Mladen Ivanic over the long-term standing Milorad Dodik who was known with his secessionist politics. And finally Croats voted for Dragan Covic from the main Croat HDZ BiH party seeking for a third Croat entity.

So what does this election mean for Bosnia? To understand this and to provide a more accurate analysis a closer look to country’s political system seems necessary.

An Extraordinary Political System

On 1995 Bosnian war came to an end with the Dayton Peace Agreement. While the agreement fulfilled its main target with ceasing the killings, it also gave birth to one of the most extraordinary political systems in the world.

At that time, just like today, all of the sides being Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs had their own vision of Bosnia. Thus, the Dayton Agreement came out as a reflection of the parties’ attitudes on the ground. As the fundamental paradox was centered upon on what kind of a country Bosnia was about to be, a partitioned or a reunified one, the agreement formulated a unique solution which neither satisfied nor offended anyone.

As a result of this logic, the country was divided into two entities namely Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS) plus the neutral Brcko district.  While the first one was designed as a Bosniak-Croat entity structured in a highly decentralized manner with having ten cantons composed of many municipalities, the latter, Republika Srpska was designed in a much more centralized fashion with a homogenous nature due to its majority Serbian dwellers.

Complicating the issues further as a part of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Annex IV or namely the constitution of Bosnia defined the country as a territory composed of three ethnic groups- Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. This ethnic dimension being injected to every level of the political institutions is so far blocking any kind of meaningful civic alternative.

Looking at this structure closely but rather simply, at the highest level, the country has three Presidents representing each one of the ethnic groups being a Croat, a Serb and a Bosniak. As each consecutive term lasts for four years, there is a rotation in the chairmanship amongst the members in every 8 months. Through this system, to ensure that each ethnic side possesses the right to elect its representative, the Bosniak and Croat Presidents get elected with the votes from FBiH, while the Serbian one is being chosen by the voters in RS.

When it comes to the parliament at the state level, it is bicameral and composed of House of Representatives and House of Peoples. At this stage once again ethnic and regional quotas come into the play. 28 members of the House of Representatives are being elected in FBiH, and 14 in RS making a total number of 42 deputies through regional limitations. On the other hand 15 members of House of Peoples are chosen via indirect elections as each constituent ethnic group has an equal number of members, 5 Croats, 5 Serbs and 5 Bosniaks.

This tangled system also endures in the entity levels, each one having their own parliaments. In terms of FBiH it is further divided into ten cantons and below that many municipalities. On the contrary, RS does not have any cantons. Interestingly both entities also have their own constitutions and ministers aside of constitution of the country and ministries at the state level.

Even this rather simplified picture of Bosnia shows that this highly complex institutional structure both curbs any kind of meaningful political development while it continuously deepens the already existing divisions.

What Now?

This year during February Bosnia was shaken with the largest protests since the end of the war with the demand of the protestors to put an end to the corruption, unemployment and political stagnation within the country. These citizens being fed up with the incompetent political elites demonstrated for days for a meaningful change in their country.  Unfortunately not much has altered since that time.

In addition to the already existing endemic problems, the devastating floods in May have made the country’s situation even worse while still the damages are in the process of repair.

So what now after this election? It is apparent that all of the ethnic parties as mentioned earlier have their own visions of Bosnia. While Bosniaks want a more unified central state on the road to EU and Nato, Serbs desire for the secession of Republika Srpska and the Croat side seeks for a third entity for themselves. So, in here another question comes to mind, how are they going to work together at all with these divergent wishes and agendas to solve people’s problems?

To answer this gripping question, when one looks at Bosnia, s/he has to consider that there are actually two main dynamics in the stage which shape the country’s future. One is surely the local players or the nationalist parties and the other one which is as equally important as the former is the international community with its Office of High Representative (OHR) in the country. Since OHR had been equipped with incremental powers to assist the country beyond any authority in Bosnia it is actually one of the key figures.

Keeping this in mind and looking at these seven consecutive elections since the end of the war, it becomes apparent that nationalist parties are a firm standing phenomena in Bosnian politics since each and every election they emerge as the winners (except 2000 elections with non-nationalist Alliance for Change Coalition). And to overcome the deadlock which these nationalist parties produce through their paradoxical policies, it seems that a more decisive OHR using his powers to encourage and compel them to work together for a better Bosnia is essential.

Also a constitutional change is vital for the country’s future since this structure forms a stalemate promoting ethnic politics through usage of ethnic and regional quotas eliminating the prospects of a civic alternative.

For Bosnia, at the moment it is not useful to mourn over the success of the nationalist parties at the after the Sunday elections, but it is the time to think through and act decisively what can be done with it to put the country on the track of development and prosperity. Unfortunately as the time passes Bosnians hope for a better future vanishes day by day while the international community forgets the problems of the country since there are many other conflicting regions in the world which are in need of urgent attention.

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.