ROMIĆ: AMERICA INCREASINGLY ACKNOWLEDGING OHR NO LONGER SERVES ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE OFFERS HOPE

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 5 /SRNA/ - Marko Romić, Secretary General to the President of Republika Srpska, has said it is encouraging that the United States is increasingly recognizing what Republika Srpska has been saying for years: that the Office of the High Representative /OHR/ has long outlived its purpose.

Romić assessed that recent announcements suggesting the United States may review its engagement in BiH therefore come as no surprise. "Unlike part of the European bureaucracy, which ignores reality, Washington is increasingly recognizing the facts on the ground. And the facts are simple: the High Representative is appointed by a body without a democratic or constitutional mandate, the Bonn powers are not part of the Dayton Peace Accords, and thanks to the OHR, BiH remains the only functioning protectorate in modern Europe," Romić posted on X. He stressed that after nearly 30 years of foreign oversight, if the next High Representative is also the last, this would not threaten peace but rather represent a step toward a BiH in which decisions are made by its citizens and institutions, not by unelected foreign officials. The US Embassy in BiH announced today that European indecisiveness and the Peace Implementation Council's /PIC/ failure to fulfill its own responsibilities toward BiH are forcing the United States to reassess its role in the current international presence in the country.