CVIJANOVIC: FOREIGNERS ARE SAVING MLADEN IVANIC

Ivanic, as a matter of fact, is 'one of a kind' politician in a sense that he not only managed to betray his voters, the Serbian and the Bosniak voters in less than four years but also runs an individual campaign separate from his party and other parties in that block. This campaign, based on the principle of 'an isolated protected individual' among the plenty of unsuccessful political figures in his surrounding is also a bit funny ...

Prepared by: Tatjana PARAĐINA

BANJA LUKA, March 31 (Reuters) - Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska and SNSD Vice President Zeljka Cvijanovic says that coalition agreement of SNSD, DNS and SP was a natural sequence of things within a coalition that existed for 20 years and which was gathered around the same idea, which is a stronger Republic of Srpska.

"The Republic which is aware of itself and its potentials, the Republic with the preserved competences and a clear attitude in Sarajevo, but also aimed at creating conditions for better living of our citizens. Although various speculations have been made in the past few months, it has never been an issue if we were going to run together in the elections, because things are clear between us. I believe in the convincing victory of our Coalition", Ms. Cvijanovic said in an interview with SRNA news agency.

The Prime Minister underlines that the Republic of Srpska has overcome the crisis, that the Government fulfills all budget obligations in time taking into account the demands of all its social partners and implements all agreed activities.

"We did not reduce or eliminate any rights, but managed to extend and upgrade them. Things are proceeding according to the plan despite the financial blockade imposed by the Sarajevo authorities in which SDS, PDP and NDP took part and despite harmful political decisions of the latter. When they saw that we were entering a phase of complete stability and when their intention to financially devastate the Republic of Srpska failed, then people from the Alliance for Change / SzP / began to deliberately create a false picture about militarization of the Republic and paramilitary formations", the Prime Minister of Republic of Srpska stressed.

Asked to comment the statement of the SzP candidate for the Serbian Member of the BiH Presidency, Mladen Ivanic, that he was starting the elections on the top of 317,000 votes he won at the previous elections, Ms. Cvijanovic said that his electorate base had melted since then for at least  100,000 votes.

"Polls, which Mr. Ivanić allegedly does not read, show that he is behind the President /Milorad Dodik / for over 120,000 votes. He is, as a matter of fact, a one of a kind politician, not only because in less than four years he managed to betray his voters, the Serbian and Bosniak voters, but has also attempted to lead an individual campaign separate from both his own party and from other parties in that block. This campaign, based on the principle of 'an isolated protected individual' among many unsuccessful  political figures from his surrounding is a bit funny", Ms. Cvijanovic said.

In her interview with SRNA, the Prime Minister said that "Ivanić is not a synonym for stability, but for inaction and running away from responsibility."

"His story is pathetic when he says that he opposes the BiH ambassadors opening the mail unauthorized, "waving" BiH war flags across the globe, ignoring official instructions on vote in international organizations and allegedly being helpless about it, as well as saying that he stopped the British resolution on genocide. Had it not been for Serbia and Russia's reaction in the Security Council, all of us, including Ivanic, would get a seal on our heads", Republic of Srpska Prime Minister noted.

Ms. Cvijanovic further stressed that "foreigners were actively involved in the operation of saving Mladen Ivanic who do not cease making plans on how to hinder Milorad Dodik from coming to BiH Presidency".

As for the BiH Foreign Policy Strategy, Cvijanovic said that Ivanić was trying to justify himself but all in vain.

"The adoption of the BiH Foreign Policy Strategy without consulting the institutions of the Republic of Srpska was a serious mistake. If this is the correct method, I ask him why he asked for a wide debate of all institutions back in 2003, when he used to be a BiH foreign minister and this time he avoided it", Cvijanovic said.

According to Prime Minister Cvijanovic, when Ivanić raises the issue of SNSD change of the attitude towards BiH path to NATO,  then it should be noted that new political and legal circumstances emerged which were reflected in the National Assembly of Republic of Srpska Resolution on neutral position which Ivanic ignored by accepting the wording that there was a broad consensus on the movement towards the NATO.

"In the meantime, and this refers to the past ten years and longer, another fact has changed which also led to this Resolution and which refers to the fact that the courts were put in the function of seizing the property from the Republic of Srpska and transferring it to the level of BiH in order to activate the NATO membership action plan. In no other country, it has been noted that courts issue judgements to activate a political or military process which in any other normal country would be made by institutions and citizens through democratic methods.

But in BiH, we saw that the prosecutors' offices and courts are used to question the members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska or BiH Parliamentary Assembly because they did or did not vote for something. Agency Directors were also questioned, as for example, the Statistics Agency managers, when there was pressure to recognize the incorrect census results", Ms. Cvijanovic recalled.

Above all, the Prime Minister stressed, the political fact is that Serbia defined the position of the neutrality and all political subjects in the Republic of Srpska stated that this policy should be followed what on the other hand raises the question why Ivanic says one thing and does the other.

Asked to comment on the announcement of NDP President Dagan Cavic that he would sue her, Ms. Cvijanovic said that it would not be the first time to be sued and that it was the right of every citizen.

"When they hear something that they do not like, then this is "vulgar language and not appropriate for the lady" and when they address vulgar things about me, then it's appropriate for them. Allegations of Mr. Cavic that my qualifications jeopardize his and the safety of his family are simply nonsense. But since I, unlike he and others alike, do not deal with other families, I apologize to his family as I would do to any other family if they consider it to cause them any inconvenience.

As for Mr. Cavic personally, I can only tell him that the citizen support is the only measure of our work as politicians. By the way, I think that it is not appropriate for the former President of the Republic to carry loud speakers into the RS National Assembly, to whistle or act as a rebel", Prime Minister Cvijanovic said in an interview with SRNA news agency.