THE ISSUE OF ELECTING A NEW HIGH REPRESENTATIVE IS A CLASH OF TWO CONCEPTS

SARAJEVO, JUNE 10 /SRNA/ - The Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović stated that the election of a new High Representative is a question of a clash of two concepts, not two candidates, pointing out that someone, after 30 years of various experiments, has looked at the situation differently.

Cvijanović pointed out that she does not interpret this as a conflict between the EU and America, adding that it is a conceptual, not a personal, story. "If you look at all the statements since the new American administration came in, you could hear that domestic dialogue and domestic solutions are being sought, as well as the responsibility of domestic people who were elected through a democratic procedure," Cvijanović told Avaz. On the other hand, she says, are the Europeans who are aware of their inability to resolve some issues themselves or to establish themselves as a credible partner to the institutions of BiH. "So there is all sorts of stuff. Some say that the time has come for people to breathe with full lungs, make their own decisions, and be responsible for those decisions. And you have others who say - that is not enough for us, we don't know what to do with them or when we will admit them to the EU," stated Cvijanović. She pointed out that the new High Representative, if appointed by the Peace Implementation Council, will have a serious lack of legitimacy. Cvijanović said that the newly appointed person to that position should enable the transfer of responsibility to the domestic terrain and that there will certainly be no Bonn powers in the way they were previously used. "Probably in some rotten compromise we can count on someone saying, `Well okay, there will be Bonn powers, they won't be used`. We have to get used to the fact that we live without High Representatives," said Cvijanović. In BiH, she says, a clash of two concepts is happening - one in which BiH should start walking, and the other in which BiH should remain wallowing. "I heard a foolish claim by the Minister of Foreign Affairs /in the Council of Ministers Elmedin Konaković/, which is the ultimate reflection of a politician's impotence. He said that we will sit down, then we won't agree again, so there will be Bonn powers. I am telling him, there will be no Bonn powers just because you do not want to reach an agreement with someone," stated Cvijanović. She added that she is sure the imposition of decisions is a thing of the past. If it were not in the past, says Cvijanović, BiH would not even have a future. "I can talk to anyone. We constantly get answers from the authorities in the Federation of BiH that they will not talk. No one is good, and that is only because they are unsure of the outcome of the talks. They have relied on an external factor that will deal with Republika Srpska," said Cvijanović. She assessed that the government of the "Troika" is quite unsuccessful.