Cavic said in an interview with the Banja Luka-based Nezavisne Novine daily of Wednesday that the existence of the Serb entity, Republika Srpska, did not undermine the sovereignty of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"Failure to accept political reality generates confrontations and the SDS can no longer afford to be in conflict with everybody," Cavic said indirectly responding to criticisms levelled against him by some SDS members accusing him of departing from the party platform.
Cavic said that "it is necessary to break down taboos and realise that Republika Srpska ceased to be a state a long time ago".
"With the signing of the 1995 Dayton accords, Republika Srpska ceased to be a state and became an entity within Bosnia-Herzegovina. Since then we have more or less been adjusting ourselves to the fact that it is an entity rather than a state," the Republika Srpska president said.
Cavic gave the statements ahead of the continuation of talks of Bosnian leaders, who are expected to meet in Washington to discuss changes to the country's constitution.
Last weekend, leaders of eight major Bosnian parties met in Brussels to start talks on this topic.
Officials of the (Bosniak) Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ BH) insisted on abolishing Republika Srpska as a separate entity, which is opposed by political forces in the Serb entity.