DODIK: AMERICA DID NOT REQUEST DEPORTATION OF MIGRANTS TO REPUBLIKA SRPSKA

BANJA LUKA, JULY 1 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said that the United States did not request any deportation of migrants to Republika Srpska and BiH, but that if that happens, the Republika Srpska Parliament will discuss it.

Dodik emphasized that America is returning migrants to the countries they came from. "If the U.S. asks us to accept a certain number of migrants, we will once again return to the National Assembly," Dodik said in the National Assembly during the parliamentary debate on the proposed declaration rejecting the initiative of the UK Government and the EU to establish migrant centers in BiH. Dodik pointed out that the aim of the statements made by PDP MP Igor Crnadak regarding this issue is to make the main headline about Srpska rejecting an American plan on migrants. "But no one has asked anything from us. That is a deception and a lie, just like the claim that the Government of Srpska's plane was in the United Kingdom," Dodik said. He emphasized that he received confirmation from a pilot, whom he called during the session, that no planes from Srpska landed at any airport in the United Kingdom in the past three years. Dodik believes that Crnadak is deliberately spreading falsehoods and that it would be better for him to explain how it was possible that the Council of Ministers, during his term as minister, secretly decided to establish three migrant camps in Republika Srpska. "He was the minister of foreign affairs when that decision was made," Dodik said. He also noted that the National Assembly has the right to discuss issues important to the citizens of the Republic, such as the migrant crisis. "We want to make it clear that we do not wish to be part of any solution other than rejecting the migrants. I have been pointing out this problem for years, which is present throughout Europe," Dodik said. Speaking about the economic situation, Dodik emphasized that Republika Srpska has never been in a better position, which is best reflected in the statistics. "A republic in crisis is not in a position to increase salaries, build roads, and implement other infrastructure projects, yet Republika Srpska is doing that successfully. Public debt has decreased from 32 to 29 percent. We are regularly paying salaries, adjusting pensions, and the pension fund amounts to BAM 160 million per month," Dodik said. He added that there is a growing trend of people returning from abroad to Republika Srpska, and that he will be the godfather to a family that returned to the village of Marićka near Prijedor from abroad and had their fifth child.