CVIJANOVIĆ: FOREIGN INTERVENTIONISM CREATED CULTURE OF DEPENDENCE ON INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

SARAJEVO, APRIL 27 /SRNA/ – The Serb BiH Presidency member Željka Cvijanović says that foreign interventionism in BiH has led to the development of a culture of dependence on the international community, something the Venice Commission had warned about as early as 2004, stressing that it is high time for the decision-making process to be returned to local institutions.

“All crises in BiH are the result of external, anti-Dayton interventions that are incompatible with the country’s democratic character. It is a disgrace for the European continent that it tolerates the practice of imposing unilateral decisions by foreign individuals,” Cvijanović said after a meeting of the BiH Presidency members with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset. She has pointed out that there is no country in the world, except BiH, where unappointed foreigners can pass laws instead of local democratic institutions, announced the Office of the Serb Presidency member. “Not a single word of the Constitution or the Dayton Peace Agreement granted this authority to high representatives. Dozens of people have been victims of illegal decisions by unappointed foreigners, against whom there has been no legal accountability or legal remedy,” Cvijanović recalled. She added that there is no country where Constitutional Court judges, including European judges, can create new constitutional solutions and change, instead of protect, the existing Constitution. “Such judges later admitted in their memoirs that before making decisions they had to consult with high representatives, which proves they were guided by political rather than legal criteria,” Cvijanović noted. She stressed that it is high time to review all imposed decisions and to remove their harmful consequences. “It is time for the decision-making process in BiH to finally be returned to the constituent peoples, their democratically elected representatives, and local institutions at all levels of government,” Cvijanović concluded.