In a recent interview with local news paper Glas Srpske, RS Minister for Economic Affairs and Regional Cooperation Željka Cvijanović responded to High Representative Inzko’s attacks against the RS in his recent report to the UN Security Council.
“It is more important what the Annual Report of the European Commission says about the progress of BiH in the EU accession process than any report of the HR,” said Minister Cvijanović. “For that reason we should focus on the positions that the EU takes. With respect to the Report of HR, it is, as it was before, written to secure ‘so called arguments’ for the extension of this Office’s sojourn, which should have been closed a long time ago, because its decisions have decreased both the capacities of BiH and its chance to rehabilitate.”
Ms. Cvijanović added that Inzko deals with the rhetoric of domestic political representatives in a way that promotes the “culture of prohibited topics. That is not the way it works in democratic societies. The comment on undermining of the institutions at the level BiH, or about their alleged endangerment because of the agreement on the budget or the fiscal framework, is absolutely inappropriate, especially at the time of economic crises when the whole Europe is adopting measures that will secure better life conditions for citizens.”
Ms. Cvijanović emphasized that Inzko does not identify problems his own decisions have created, whether we talk about Mostar, or the formation of the Government of the Federation of BiH, or the destiny of many people whose human rights have been violated and who are left without any legal protection.
“We decided to achieve the reform of the judiciary together with the EU, through the structural dialogue, and that in certain matters, such as appointment of prosecutors, adopt practices that exist in many European states. Most tragic is that an expensive sojourn of one detrimental office such as the OHR is credited as an aid to BiH, while we still carry the burden of its earlier detrimental decisions.”
