Page 13 - SE Outlook Regions 2022

in mid-January that he would soon hold talks with all government and
opposition partners on the return of Serbs to Bosnian state institutions.
The turnaround followed a request from Serbian President Aleksandar
Vucic.

Bosnia & Herzegovina was internationally recognised as an independent
state in March 1992, when the breakup of the former Yugoslavia began.
Immediately after the recognition of Bosnia, the war in the country began,
which ended at the end of 1995 with the signing of the Peace Agreement.

According to the Peace Agreement, which today is also called the Dayton
Constitution, Bosnia consists of three parts: the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and the Brcko District. Bosniaks and
Bosnian Croats mainly live in the Federation, Bosnian Serbs in Republika
Srpska and all three peoples in the Brcko District. The Bosnian Federation
consists of ten cantons that have great autonomy.

Bosnia’s main political problems are related to the cumbersome
administration established by the Dayton Accords. For example, in the
Bosnian Federation alone there are 11 ministries of health, ten in the
cantons and one at the entity level, 11 parliaments and governments and
so on.

There have been numerous blockades of work at various levels of
government in recent years, and currently the two most important issues
are changes to the election law and the withdrawal of Serbs from
state-level institutions.

Bosnian Croats are insist on a new election law, according to which only a
Croat from certain political parties could be elected to the three-member
Bosnian presidency. For example, the Croat member of the Bosnian
presidency at the moment is Bosnian Croat Zeljko Komsic, whose only
“fault” is coming from the Democratic Front political party.

The strongest political parties in Bosnia that are in power today are the
Bosniak SDA party, Dodik’s SNSD and the Croatian HDZ.

1.1 Politics - Bulgaria

Bulgaria went through its toughest political year for decades in 2021 as
it had to hold three general elections before a new coalition government
was finally formed at the end of the year. Led by two reform-minded
Harvard graduates, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov and his deputy Assen
Vassilev, the new government has set ambitious goals including
tackling corruption and mending relations with neighbouring North
Macedonia, as well as steering Bulgaria through the pandemic and its
economic fallout.

Changes already started in 2021, under the caretaker government
installed after the first two general elections, in April and July, failed to
produce ruling coalitions. The two interim governments, whose

13 SE Outlook 2022 www.intellinews.com