President Milanović on Dodik’s Initiative: A new Dayton Is not Necessary, the Dayton Agreement Should Be Complied with
“The Dayton Agreement has not failed, it is not respected and is being violated. If it were respected, everything would be all right. In my view this initiative is well-intentioned. I think that the intention is compliance with the Dayton Agreement, which is persistently being violated by certain people and political camps, they accuse Croatia of a criminal enterprise. Of the three members of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency, two have been doing so actively, namely the Croat B-H Presidency member and the Bosniak member. I don’t believe that the initiative is realistic. Ultimately, it requires general consensus”, the President of the Republic said in Split on commenting the initiative of the Serbian member of the B-H Presidency Milorad Dodik that the presidents of Croatia, Serbia and Turkey act as mediators in talks on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s future.
He reminded that Alija Izetbegović received the highest decoration from Franjo Tuđman. “That was all right, then a few years later his successors and political partners were saying that we wanted to carve Bosnia and Herzegovina up. They should reach an agreement on their own, and they should especially refrain from violating the rights of the constituent peoples, primarily the Croats, whose rights are quite minor. We’re not asking for anything much, just what is stipulated in Dayton. This initiative will not succeed because the other two don’t want it, it’s not realistic. His initiative is aimed at pointing out that the current situation in B-H is unsustainable”, the President noted. Not a new Dayton, let’s stick to what is written”, the President stated.
He also commented on the position and role of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Schmidt who has been criticized by some states. “There is Dayton and there is a para-Dayton that is becoming a disease, since it wasn’t adopted in the same way that Dayton was, which was signed by the highest representatives of several states. Because of some frustrations it was changed in order to give power to individuals. To be concrete, to the High Representative who was mentioned in the Dayton Framework Agreement and in the annexes in one place only as a civilian implementation. That person was given huge powers”, he said, and added that High Representative Schwartz is ok, but he was appointed by five states not including China and Russia, members of the Security Council. “That mandate is impossible without the Security Council in which China and Russia have a veto”, he warned and asked: “On the other hand, these two from the Presidency are saying that Croatia is a criminal state, how can you live normally with such people, what kind of statement is that?”
Asked whether Croatia should accept more Afghani refugees President Milanović said that we have a moral obligation to save people who worked for our mission and members of their families. “Never enough humaneness, but the burden of obligation is not equal. The biggest states should do the most, there’s not that many more people”, President Milanović answered.
Today is International Day of the Disappeared, therefore journalists asked President Milanović if enough is being done to find missing persons from the Homeland War. “We’ve been doing a lot on our part for years, but with no results”, the President replied.
He also commented on announced amendments to the Reconstruction Law, i.e. the pace of reconstruction in the earthquake-stricken areas. “It’s too slow. It is never easy and cannot be easy due to property-legal relations, but if you want something, you remove some barriers, possibly making some minor mistake or damage in the process that you later rectify. Had we managed matters in such a way we wouldn’t have built many things. For example, Croatia would not have highways that were built, designed and financed in two years from Zagreb to Split. Petrinja and Glina are small towns and that should not present a major problem for the state. But nothing is happening. Unfortunately, it’s going too slow and if it continues at the current pace, we will lose Petrinja. People will move away never to return. A law is adopted easily, it has to be implemented. I always recall Gunja that isn’t much smaller than Glina, yet it was rebuilt in a matter of a few months”, the President said.
Journalists asked President Milanović how he sees the position of the Republic of Croatia in NATO. “In this precisely, in some type of maritime situation awareness and securing certain international regimes, free navigation which is one of the fundamental international rights on which the world rests, freedom of movement, free trade. Of course always on the basis of a resolution, in this case the UN”, he said in the context of the formal send-off of the 5th Croatian contingent to the NATO peace support Operation Sea Guardian in the Mediterranean in which he took part in Split.
Asked how he estimates the Croatian army’s equipment, President Milanović said: “There’s always a need for more – I say that now as President, as Prime Minister I couldn’t say so. I always have to advocate that they be equipped as best as possible, not to get militarized as a society and as a community, but that they have a lot of equipment, what is not visible. For a ship to be built, class corvette, up to 100 m in length, which Croatia doesn’t own, as a strong symbol. Croatia can afford it. It’s up to me to remind the Government, but it’s up to them to see, to show that they have an ear for such things, but they also have to a voice. I cannot be critical, but I can encourage”, President Milanović stated.