SARAJEVO SARAJEVO, Feb 16 (Hina) - The concept of the Dayton peace agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been exhausted and the document is now an obstacle to the country's efforts to draw closer to EU membership,
said most participants in a debate of this kind which was held in Sarajevo on Monday for the first time since 1995. The event gathered representatives of all leading political parties in the country, who were invited to give their opinion on possible changes to the country's constitution.
SARAJEVO, Feb 16 (Hina) - The concept of the Dayton peace agreement,
which ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been exhausted and the
document is now an obstacle to the country's efforts to draw closer to
EU membership, said most participants in a debate of this kind which
was held in Sarajevo on Monday for the first time since 1995. The
event gathered representatives of all leading political parties in the
country, who were invited to give their opinion on possible changes to
the country's constitution.#L#
The discussion, held under the title "Bosnia-Herzegovina on the road
to a functioning state: visions, prospects and concepts", was
organised by the German foundations "Friedrich Ebert", "Konrad
Adenauer", "Heinrich Boell" and "Friedrich Naumann". The event was
prompted by a declaration of the European Parliament from December
2003 on the need for an internal reorganisation of Bosnia and the
proposal of the European Stability Initiative (ESI) from January 2004
to abolish the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina as a first step
towards a more efficient and cheaper state.
A deputy in the European Parliament and chairwoman of its working
group for relations with South-East Europe, Doris Pack, said in
Sarajevo the December declaration was not the result of thinking of
several individuals, but a reflection of the attitude of all European
parliamentarians. "All parties in the European Parliament support the
initiative," she said, adding that it was high time a debate about the
Dayton agreement was opened.
ESI director Gerald Knaus spoke about the details of the proposal to
reorganise Bosnia by abolishing the Croat-Muslim federation and
delegating its authorities to cantons, i.e. the state. He said that
the regionalisation of the country was a process which would lead to a
three-layer state with 12 autonomous units. This would replace the
current ethnically dominant entities with a federal structure, a
process which would be completed in several years, he said.
Representatives of political parties, both the ruling ones and those
from the opposition, agreed that changes had to be made in Bosnia
because it was an expensive country with no rule of law or
considerable economic progress.
Party of Democratic Action (SDA) president Sulejman Tihic said the
Dayton agreement was the result of the balance of forces in Bosnia and
the world in 1995. "Unprincipled compromises were made at the time and
they now hamper the normal functioning of the state," the leader of
the biggest Muslim party said, stressing that "construction mistakes"
in the Dayton agreement today posed an obstacle to all processes,
including the country's economic development.
Tihic said the ESI initiative was encouraging, but he also voiced
concern that it could lead to demands for the establishment of a Croat
canton in the country.
A member of the presidency of the Croatian Democratic Union of
Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Martin Raguz, said it was high time to
stop viewing Bosnian Croats through stereotypes because Croats
believed in Bosnia-Herzegovina as a country where they could exercise
their rights.
"The HDZ BiH believes that the strategy and essence of the Dayton
model is in a crisis," Raguz said, warning that debates on the Dayton
agreement should not be viewed as a conspiracy against anyone, but as
a joint search for ways to faster approach the EU, as a common goal of
all citizens.
The speech of Dragan Kalinic, leader of the Serb Democratic Party
(SDS), showed clearly that there is no willingness in the Bosnian Serb
entity to enter serious debates about important constitutional
changes. Kalinic claims that the 1995 peace agreement and the
Constitution of Bosnia-Herzegovina which resulted from it are of great
importance to Bosnian Serbs, because they guarantee their equality and
protection.
Proposals for the internal reorganisation of Bosnia, says Kalinic, are
only a pretext for state centralisation and attempts by some people
to seize as much power as possible.
The opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP), said party leader Zeljko
Komsic, believes that all previous debates about changes to the Dayton
agreement, missed the essence of the problem because all offered
concepts eventually proved to be preserving the existing ethnic and
territorial organisation of the country.
(Hina) rml sb