News in English     | 21.03.2021. 23:38 |

Izetbegović: It is necessary to strengthen pro-civic forces in BiH

FENA Vernera Jakupović

SARAJEVO, March 21 (FENA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to strengthen its pro-civic forces and cooperation of all factors that lead to that strengthening, said the President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Bakir Izetbegović as a guest speaker at the regular session of the Independent Association of Intellectuals "Circle 99", talking about the topic of internal and external forces in the restitution of the civic system in BiH.

The civic-oriented parties with the Party of Democratic Action, representatives of the international community - in the first place representatives of the European Union and the Council of Europe, then representatives of the non-governmental sector and associations of intellectuals, must work in coordination, Izetbegović said.

"Civic, mostly left-wing parties, must give up the counterproductive conflict with the SDA, reduce it to a healthy rivalry within the Federation of BiH. And they must make inroads into areas dominated by Serb and Croat national parties. That penetration has been reduced to zero at this time. The democratic, pro-Bosnian reflex in the Serb and Croat corps in BiH must be awakened. Equating the SDA with other national parties, insisting on a "change in the concept of government" that would mean the departure of national parties from the political scene, simply did not work in the previous quarter of a century. The term "pro-Bosnian party" is imprecise, but I have no better one to include all patriotic forces, i.e. political parties that are ready to work on a multiethnic, anti-discrimination, democratic, pro-European and pro-NATO agenda. The SDA is the strongest among them. It is irresponsible and selfish to reject it," Izetbegović underlined.

In the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that bloc of parties has 60 percent of the hands, but it has only 33 percent of influence because it is all crammed into a "Bosniak quota". Those 60 percent of hands carry the will and determination of 60 percent of citizens and voters in BiH, which should enable adoption in the House of Peoples, and then to all state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The SDA needs to make new strides from a national to a multiethnic party, Izetbegović argues.

So far, these steps have been too modest and have been reduced to some Croats and Serbs in the Main Board, the Presidency and the party's cantonal leaderships.

"The SDA is a party that fought for the survival of Yugoslavia, and then for the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It did not accept divisions that would mean its rule in one-third of the territory of BiH, it accepted the mandate of the OHR in order to preserve the unity of the country. The SDA has effectively, not only at the level of commitment, fought for the restoration of Bosnia and Herzegovina's multiethnic community and the nation.

Following the appeal of Alija Izetbegović, the Constitutional Court of BiH declared the constituency of the people on the entire territory of BiH. The appeals filed by Sulejman Tihić, and then by me as a member of the Presidency of BiH, then saved the state property of BiH, and citizenships of hundreds of thousands of Bosnians and Herzegovinians in exile and emigration.

The SDA represents the interests of Bosniaks, but in an inclusive, pro-Bosnian and pro-European way. We respect the multiethnic community and the richness of cultures it creates, and we do not see the interest of Bosniaks in creating a monoethnic and monocultural community left to the whirlwind of history. Multiethnicity is the wealth of the country in which we live and it is a protection for Bosnian Muslims as well," said the president of the SDA.

In his opinion, the international community, and especially the European Union, must be more decisive and concrete when it comes to the implementation of European standards, attitudes, decisions, and especially judgments that affirm the civil principle and eliminate discrimination.

Bosnia and Herzegovina lived a European, multiethnic spirit, for hundreds of years before the unification of European countries into the European Union. Europe must protect this achievement and help it to be completely restored, Izetbegović believes.

"They have the necessary mechanisms for that - sanctions and incentives. The Bonn powers of the High Representative must be used against those who deny genocide, decorate war criminals and threaten with secession. For too long, they have been reluctant to mention them, let alone use them, thus allowing nationalism, separatism, discrimination, and arrogance to develop to threatening proportions. Incentives in the form of grants and soft loans should be for those who respect and implement European standards, recommendations and decisions of European institutions and courts.

These are just some of the series of mechanisms that the European Union can and will use to pull BiH in the right direction and to protect itself from potential conflicts in the heart of Europe, said the SDA president at this session of "Circle 99".

He reminds that a new attempt to change the Election Law is currently ongoing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that an interdepartmental working group has been formed in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, which should define the proposed amendments.

"I hope that this will not be just another unsuccessful attempt because, for 15 years we have been trying unsuccessfully to find solutions that will enable the implementation of a series of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, and be acceptable to major political actors in BiH, i.e. two-thirds of the state parliamentarians.

At the suggestion of representatives of the international community - EU, USA, Great Britain, OSCE and OHR, in June last year, the SDA undertook, in cooperation with the HDZ, to define the principles and basic contours of amendments to the Election Law, which will implement all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of BiH related to this matter.

Izetbegović emphasizes that the interest of the SDA is the implementation of the judgments of the European Court, which eliminate discrimination in the candidacy and the election process and are on the line of strengthening the civic concept.

According to its leader, the SDA sees a chance in resuming talks on the principles contained in the April Package of constitutional changes and will insist on removing the asymmetry in the competencies and functioning of the House of Peoples of the Federation of BiH and the Council of Peoples of the entity of Republika Srpska.

The House of Peoples of the Federation of BiH cannot have a stronger position and more competencies than the House of Representatives, Izetbegović concluded.

"So far, we have not been able to bring our positions closer with the ones of the HDZ. I am convinced that the SDA/HDZ format has been reduced too much and that all parliamentary parties, domestic and foreign experts, as well as representatives of the non-governmental sector should be included in the talks on amendments to the Constitution and the Election Law. What is to be welcomed regarding this format is that after 12 years, we have resolved the issue of the elections in Mostar and that, to some extent, has relaxed the relations within the unstable coalition in which the main components are the SDA and the HDZ," said Izetbegović. 

A unitary or a simple state, as BiH was until the adoption of the Dayton PA structure, which operates on the basis of the civic principle, is a natural framework and arrangement that protects and enables the survival and development of a multiethnic community as it was and as we strive to renew in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The unitary state of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not stifle the identities, culture, peculiarities and equality of ethnic groups in BiH.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, the SDA leader continued, functioned on the basis of the civic organization until 1995, but it has always maintained and will always have to maintain ethnic balance through various mechanisms and prevent domination and discrimination on ethnic grounds.

According to him, the SDA stands fully behind the civic principle and is ready for full and urgent implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, while, for example, the HDZ sees the danger for the survival of Croats in BiH in strengthening the civic principle with an incredible claim that "a civic state of BiH would soon turn into a Bosniak and then an Islamic republic of BiH."

The civic-oriented parties, with multiethnic leadership, have developed almost exclusively in Bosniak-dominated territories defended by the RBiH Army and dominated by the SDA. Left-wing parties in the RS, socialist and social democratic, are exclusively Serb parties. The most influential among them, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), has turned into a radical nationalist, anti-Bosnian party. In the Croat community in BiH, unlike in the Republic of Croatia, such civic-oriented parties do not exist.

Within the 14 key priorities of the European Commission, Izetbegović reminds, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been asked to remove the right of veto in the decision-making process, in accordance with the Acquis - “all administrative bodies entrusted with the implementation of the Acquis should be based only on professionalism and the rights to veto on an ethnic basis in their decision-making should be abolished", it is stated in the Analytical Report as an addendum to the Opinion of the European Commission.

 

 

(FENA) S. R.

Vezane vijesti


Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/vhosts/fena.ba/httpdocs/post-new.php on line 379

Promo

M:tel: Savršena kombinacija – Huawei telefon i pametni sat s popustom

M:tel: Stiglo nam je Proljeće!

Predstava 'Kako sam se nadala dobro se nisam udala' u BKC Sarajevo