On Thursday, HDZ BiH President Dragan Čović described as unrealistic the proposals for the reorganization of his country, such as those recently put forward by SNSD President Milorad Dodik when he spoke about the need to establish a third entity with a Croat majority, the newspaper writes. N1.
In an interview with the public service BHT 1, he recalled that such projects would require changes to the constitutional arrangement, for which there is no necessary majority, and HDZ BiH advocates the preservation of Dayton BiH while protecting the collective rights of the constituent nations.
There is no space or political will to change the constitution of BiH, he reminded, noting that advocates of unitarist and separatist ideas are an equal threat.
"Will we ever come to a situation where we are talking about a change and a different structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina? We need a dominant two-thirds majority for something like that. We have tried it several times. I have no optimism... that we are able to do it ourselves, which means that solutions should be sought within the framework of the Dayton constitution," Čović said.
He asked how the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina could be divided in the first place, as suggested by Dodik.
"How are we going to divide the Federation?", he publicly asked the question, and when asked by the presenter why he didn't tell Dodik at the press conference, he answered: "Why would I tell Dodik that? If I were to comment on what everyone was saying, then I would only deal with that".
For Dodik and his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), he said that they remain political partners because they have a significant influence on decision-making mechanisms at the entity and state level.
Any expulsion of a partner from the government without secured decision-making elements would be pure adventurism, Čović pointed out, indirectly commenting on earlier calls by the parties of the Bosniak-citizen bloc to take the opposition from the RS as partners instead of Dodik's party.
He said that despite the setbacks BiH has faced on its path to EU membership, he remains an "incorrigible optimist" and hopes that the BiH parliament will soon adopt two reform laws that the EU insists on, and that a chief negotiator will be appointed.
"I don't see a single reason why it won't be completed in the next one or two sessions of the parliament," said Čović.
He says that a premature campaign is underway in Bosnia and Herzegovina ahead of the elections planned for October 2026, and because of this, the reform processes essential for EU membership are suffering the most.
Source: N1
Photo: HINA/FENA/ Amer Kajmović
