Page 54 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2023

54 I Southeast Europe bne December 2023
According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the plan has the potential to double the size of the Western Balkans’ economies in the next decade. / bne IntelliNews
Bosnian Serb leader accused of waiting for Putin’s nod to break up Bosnia
Denitsa Koseva in Sofia
Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska, will attempt to force the entity’s secession within one or two years, MP Zlatko Miletic said in an interview with N1.
Dodik has been threatening Republika Srpska’s secession for years but in the last few months took steps towards rejection of the authority of the state-level constitutional court and the international community’s high representative Christian Schmidt. Earlier in November, he said he
sees himself as the first president of independent Republika Srpska in 2030.
The entity makes up Bosnia along with
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the Muslim-Croat Federation. Each of them has its own institutions and there are also state-level bodies.
“I believe 99% that he will do it in the coming period. I believe this, based
on all the indicators. I also warned
the [coalition of Bosniak parties]
Troika before the formation of the [state-level] government. When I saw paper – what the intentions of his
party are in the state government, to work on derogating state institutions and authorities, his frequent visits to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, playing games with the citizens of Bosnia and Republika Srpska, making Republika Srpska’s citizens hostages of his politics to protect all those activities
he was engaged in from ’92 to the present. He has no other way out. He is just waiting for a signal from Russia and a favourable moment,” said Miletic, a Bosnian Croat MP.
He added, however, that he does not expect a military conflict as the international community would not allow it.
“We are in a big trap, and that is
one of the problems with which everything is softened, he has been preparing for years and is preparing the euthanasia of BiH citizens. He
is making unconstitutional moves, directly destroying the integrity of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. He called for creating a