KOŠARAC: SCHMIDT'S DEPARTURE - END OF ILLEGITIMATE POLITICAL EPISODE, HIS DECISIONS MUST BE ANNULLED

SARAJEVO, JULY 1 /SRNA/ - Deputy Chairperson of the Council of Ministers Staša Košarac told SRNA that the departure of Christian Schmidt from BiH represents the end of an illegitimate political episode and that the concept of imposition, tutelage, and trampling of international and domestic law has once again suffered a political defeat, and that the next step must be the annulment of everything Schmidt imposed.

Košarac recalled that Schmidt never received the confirmation of the UN Security Council and that he never had the legitimacy of the High Representative, and that, as he pointed out, this was a foreigner who was working "illegally" in BiH. "His illegitimate mandate was marked by anti-constitutional actions, the imposition of decisions bypassing democratic procedures, and attempts to place the will of a single foreigner above the Constitution and the law. Every decision of his represents a strike against the sovereignty of domestic institutions and a gross violation of Dayton and the constitutional order in BiH," stated Košarac. Schmidt, as he stated, deepened the crisis with his retrograde methods and tried to regulate relations in BiH through political decrees. "The special targets of his policy were President Milorad Dodik, Republika Srpska, and its institutions," said Košarac. He pointed out that all key political and judicial actions against Dodik and Republika Srpska bore the stamp of Schmidt's directing, with the clear goal of disciplining the Serbian people, weakening the constitutional position of Srpska, seizing its property, and disempowering its democratically elected representatives. Košarac noted that Republika Srpska has once again demonstrated political maturity, institutional strength, and consistency because it responded to all of Schmidt's assaults exclusively with constitutional and democratic means, defending its rights and protecting its constitutional capacity. At the same time, Košarac believes, the decisive and sovereign policy of Dodik, the policy of the Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović, and the leadership of Srpska on the international level contributed to Schmidt's departure and the defeat of his aberrant actions. "Once again, it has been confirmed that Republika Srpska is on the right side. It withstood every pressure. It did not give up its competencies, but defended them with arguments, institutions, and a consistent policy," said Košarac. He emphasized that Republika Srpska still stands upright today, politically stable and institutionally strong, while Schmidt leaves as a symbol of the failed experiment of international interventionism. "It is good that he is leaving, but his departure does not erase the damage he caused. Not a single law and not a single decision, which he arbitrarily imposed, can remain in the legal system in BiH. In a state governed by the rule of law, laws are passed by institutions that are authorized by the Constitution, and not by unelected foreign officials who imagined themselves to be above the Dayton Agreement and above the people," said Košarac. Košarac pointed out that decisions and laws are made by institutions authorized by the Constitution, and not by an unelected foreigner who worked illegally and who, as he said, imagined himself to be above the Constitution and the law.