CVIJANOVIĆ: WE HAVE TAKEN THE PRESSURE OFF, WE ARE MOVING FORWARD, THINGS WILL GET BETTER

BANJA LUKA, SEPTEMBER 25 /SRNA/ - Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović said tonight that Republika Srpska had taken the pressure off, that it was moving forward and that things would get better.

Cvijanović said that the meeting with Susie Wiles, the US president’s chief of staff, was confirmation that the approach towards Republika Srpska and the Serbs was changing. She said the talks focused on the future and what had happened over the past year, as well as what had happened in BiH over the past 30 years. “It was a substantive conversation with a woman of great experience, and I appreciate the opportunity to talk to her,” Cvijanović told RTRS tonight. She stressed that this political understanding is not aimed at a centralized system, but represents a different approach, a more balanced one, and that in such an approach Republika Srpska sees an opportunity to develop, make progress and have its voice heard without being subject to interventions. She said the greatest benefit is that the emphasis is being placed on the need for domestic solutions and matters to be resolved through internal agreement, something political actors from Sarajevo will have to get used to. She said that, in addition to Wiles, whom she met with in Washington, she also held meetings in New York, attended a summit and was a guest at a reception hosted by US President Donald Trump. “I was honored to have received the invitation; I was informed directly by the White House,” she said. She said that the United States understands that there are differing views in BiH, but does not want to play the role of the big daddy, mommy, or police officer and punish us. “They need to understand that in Sarajevo, the unitarist approach no longer enjoys any support. We have shattered the illusions that Sarajevo has been creating around the world, and we have done so through our work,” Cvijanović said. She added that officials in Sarajevo were definitely nervous about this because the image they had been building for 30 years was being eroded. “The picture is now what it should be,” Cvijanović stressed. As for international visits, she said that Republika Srpska was now better understood in Israel, that relations with the United States had become more relaxed, and that many in Europe also understood Republika Srpska better. She added that she had the opportunity to speak with European representatives in New York as well. “Believe me, there are people who understand what the problems are here,” she said, adding that the situation was now different, with the stripping of powers and pressure being put aside. She pointed out that things had not always been pleasant, as they had constantly been subjected to criticism, but that the next 30 years must and will be better than the previous 30, because Republika Srpska deserves it. “We will not behave like our colleagues from Sarajevo; I have no intention of attacking others. That is not Republika Srpska. Republika Srpska is proud, it knows what it is doing, and it has strong institutions,” Cvijanović concluded.