Lajcak Causes Bosnian Government to Topple
Bosnian Government Topples
The Chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers Nikola Spiric has resigned, heralding the fall of the Bosnia-Herzegovina government.
Nikola Spiric, the Republic of Srpska (RS) representative, has issued his official resignation after the imposition of the measures by the international community’s High Representative Miroslav Lajcak which are violating the Dayton Peace Accord and jeopardizing the status of the Serbian entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska.
Chairman Spiric informed the head of the Bosnian Presidency, Croat Zeljko Komsic that, as of today, Bosnian Government is merely technical until the appointment of a new president and members of the Council of Ministers.
Spiric: My Resignation is the Only Possible Democratic Response
The Chairman of the Bosnian Council of Ministers told RTS that his resignation is the only democratic response, since he was presented with the situation in which any other move would be plain “rolling in the mud.”
“I want Bosnia and Herzegovina to overcome the crisis and if the High Representative Miroslav Lajcak firmly believes his decisions are right, I'll revel in the Bosnia’s success from the benches. But I do not want to be at the steering wheel contributing to the failure of the country as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers I presided over the past year,” Spiric told RTS from Banja Luka.
He considers Lajcak’s decision to be not only anti-Serbian, but also anti-state measure which has only worsened the situation and further soured the relations.
Twelve Years After Dayton Bosnia is a Mere Colony
“I fear that Lajcak’s decision was aimed at raising the political temperatures in Bosnia, so that the crisis creators could continue their work,” Spiric assessed. “I refuse to be a part of that scenario. Twelve years after Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia is yet to attain sovereignty, whereby the representatives elected by the people would lead the country and the international community would help the process, so that we could join the European integrations as soon as possible,” Spiric said.
“Unfortunately, twelve years after Dayton Peace Agreement, Bosnia is still not a sovereign state, it is being ruled by the foreigners, who are charging the domestic leaders with the responsibility for their own actions,” said Spiric.
“This is the time when all of us in Bosnia-Herzegovina need to seriously think about what should be done so that the country does not remain afloat and to make sure it doesn’t end up shipwrecked upon the international community’s good intentions,” Spiric said.
According to Spiric, “it seems that the Serbs are the only nation on Earth, and in Bosnia, obviously expected to accept the high representative’s interpretations of the law as the law.”
“I believe that there was an honorable way out, I have suggested it — the only possible way out was if everyone involved took a step back, including the high representative, so that the political crisis would be avoided,” noted Spiric.
“Unfortunately, here we have the pursuit of spite, both within Bosnia-Herzegovina and by the international community. We are the small country, we are aware of our strength and of the international community’s power. Everything is clear to us, but I do believe that dictate is not the solution. No one is infallible, neither Nikola Spiric nor Miroslav Lajcak, but the international community is not infallible either,” said Spiric.
He said that the call for dialog should be heeded by all and assessed that Lajcak should have supported the already existing government institutions, instead of taking on a dictatorial role and imposing his opinion as the final and ultimate law.
Kostunica: Lajcak Responsible for the Current Political Crisis in Bosnia
Thursday afternoon, following the resignation of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that High Representative Miroslav Lajcak is responsible for the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that it would be more natural if he resigned instead of imposing his measures and thus deepening the crisis.
In a written statement, Kostunica said that the Serbian government fully supports all institutions of Republika Srpska in their principle-based position that Dayton Accord must be respected.
Serbia, being the signatory and the guarantor of the Dayton Accords, is fully entitled to insist that this international document be duly implemented and not be violated to the detriment of the Serbian people, the Prime Minister stressed.
He also warned that attempt to annul the Dayton Accords can have unforeseeable consequences and hence it is now necessary that the international community corrects the mistakes that produced the serious crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Russia: Lajcak’s Measures Contrary to the Spirit of Dayton Agreement
Russian representative in the Council for Peace Implementation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko warned on Thursday that the latest decisions of the international community’s high representatives are irritating and worsening the relations in Bosnia, instead of leading out of the political crisis, the statement by the Russian Embassy in Bosnia said.
“Due to the political reasons, Russia does not approve the latest measures of the High Representative [Miroslav Lajcak] which, without the necessary support of the political leaders, institutions and both entities, are only contributing to the rising tensions in Bosnia,” the statement says.
As a member of the Russian Federation’s delegation that took part in Dayton negotiations, Botsan-Kharchenko warned that the high representative’s measures are contrary to the spirit of Dayton Agreement, since they are not rooted in the consensus of all parties.
“At the meeting with all political leaders, I said that this is not the time for impositions. That time is behind us, now is the time for political negotiations which are vital. At the same time, this is the approach that can clarify our position and our view that Lajcak’s measures are contrary to the spirit of Dayton Accord,” Botsan-Kharchenko said.
Adding that each measure has to be analyzed based on its consequences, he reminded that Russia extracted its assessment from the joint statement by the Council for the Peace Implementation in Bosnia (from the Western part of the “international community”) and expressed concern for the possible consequences, in view of the negative reactions of the Republika Srpska.