Governments of Serbia and Republic of Srpska work as a team.
Since the Serbian unity was not something that Sarajevo expected and counted on, they are trying to break this unity using spins.
"Not every Bosnia and Herzegovina is repulsive to the Serbian people. It would be reasonable, as elsewhere in the world, for the majority ethnic group, Bosniacs in case of BiH, to care most and to make biggest concessions to smaller groups and in BiH those are Serbs and Croats. But instead of majority making biggest contribution and creating such environment that would be comfortable for all and for the much-needed atmosphere of trust, we hear messages that if we do not obey, we can leave taking with us as much land as we can carry on our shoes. There can be no unity with such messages and actions taken in that direction where there is no place for us in BiH", Radovan Viskovic, the Prime Minister of Republic of Srpska says.
In an interview with "Politika" Daily, Prime Minister Višković pointed out how difficult and sometimes unbearable it is to live in a country where Sarajevo is looking for every opportunity to problematize the most sensitive issue and the most important thing for the Serbian people - cooperation with Serbia. When asked what kind of BiH would be acceptable for Serbs, Višković said it would have to be a country where people respect and appreciate each other without undermining the interests of others. And that is possible," the RS Prime Minister believes, adding that the precondition for that is that Bosniaks, first of all, accept that policy.
Not only Serbs but Croats as well have problems who have to face challenges in the Federation of BiH every day. Croats have also announced it could be expected they would try to obstruct the institutions of BiH and FBiH if the issue of the Election Law is not resolved. And they will be forced to make their voices heard. "Despite the efforts of Bosniaks to make Serbs hate the land where they live, Višković is convinced, this will not happen: This is our home for a thousand years, the Serbian land is here as well as in another entity many Serbs no longer live."
Q: The Republic of Srpska has recently invited the Federation of BiH for talks about the future of BiH. Is there any echo?
A: By the conclusion of the RS Assembly, the President of RS is responsible for inviting other parties to talks. The RS delegation was presented to the partners in FBiH, but we did not receive any answer, even the situation became much more complicated. Valentin Inzko's recent decisions regarding the ban on genocide denial provoked a justified reaction in RS. The Assembly passed conclusions that oblige all RS officials to respect them. As far as I know, all adhere to these conclusions. At that session, the unity of all political parties based in RS was achieved. This bothers some factors in Sarajevo who did not expect the Serbian unity. They calculated that they could have someone who would leave but it did not happen. Of course, they are still trying to break the unity with their spins. I believe that all parties from RS will know how to check the information coming from Sarajevo before making any decision.
Q: Do you believe that it will be possible to maintain the unity, that is, an agreement of all Serb parties not to participate in the work of BiH bodies until the problem with the imposed law is resolved?
A: I do not see any representative from any party in RS who could afford the luxury of endangering the interests of the Republic of Srpska. If any ambiguities arise, it would be correct to talk and not rush to a move that would harm the Serbian interests. I believe the unity will not be breached. We have reached the red line below which no one has the right to go. In practice, this means that Inzko's decisions will not be published in the RS Official Gazette, so RS institutions will not act according to that law.
Q: Could there be any security challenges?
A: We know that there is a mixing of competencies between security institutions, those from the joint level (SIPA) with the RS Ministry of the Interior. However, it is certain that the requests, which will be sent to the RS Ministry of the Interior and other institutions in the RS, will not be acted upon.
Q: Can the non-participation of Serb representatives in BiH institutions have any negative consequences for the functioning of the RS, in a technical sense?
A: I do not expect this because the RS Assembly has clearly specified that representatives of the Serbian people in the joint bodies should participate in the work and vote in cases when it could damage the interests of Republic of Srpska. All our representatives at the level of BiH follow what is on the agenda, what it is about, what is planned and then when it is estimated that a topic or a decision can bring harm to RS, our representatives will appear and vote against. We will not allow our non-arrival to cause damage to RS. All sessions, meetings, agendas in joint bodies are carefully analyzed by the Serbian representatives.
Q: However, although many things in BiH have been imposed without agreement and unilaterally for years, Dodik is often the target of criticism for alleged fueling instability with inflammatory rhetoric.
A: A well-established scheme that does not surprise us, we are so used to it. Serbs have been bad guys since the beginning of RS and some others are good guys because they seem to stand for BiH, co-habitation, integrity, rights of citizens and peoples ... However, if you look, over 15% of Bosniaks live in RS, and Serbs in FBiH make only 2.5 percent. Looking at those figures, we see where ethnic cleansing took place, who advocates multiethnic society and who provides rights to others. In some cantons in FBiH, Serbs do not have their constitutive rights recognized, our people are not in the local authorities at all. We are proud that all can live in RS confidently.
There are individual incidents, but very few. RS is the best indicator of how we can live together. The information we receive every day from Serbs in Federation BiH show that this is not the case in that entity because they do not have basic conditions for living. We even tried to provide our people in the Federation of BiH with vaccines against the corona virus because they were not among the priorities of Sarajevo and the cantonal authorities. On this issue, we owe great gratitude to Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, then to the Prime Minister of Vojvodina Mirović, from whom we received very correct and concrete help for RS and Serbs in Federation BiH.
Q: What about economic cooperation with Serbia and if the announced energy investment "Buk Bijela, is endangered since it had been disputed by the Constitutional Court of BiH claiming that an agreement must be reached at the level of BiH? Such an agreement has not been needed for any concession so far and hundreds have been issued in both entities.
A: We have concrete projects that we are working on with Serbia. From the construction of the highway from Rača to Bijeljina to the works on one of the largest energy projects in the Balkans on the construction of hydroelectric power plants on the upper course of the Drina River - "Buk Bijela", "Foča" and "Paunci". A series of attacks on RS and Serbia started from Sarajevo to the extent that such grave terms as aggression and silent annexation were used in this case. The paradox is that the vaccination process has shown that Serbia, in fact, was the greatest friend of the entire BiH. In most difficult moments, we received help from Serbia which in that way forced other countries to help BiH. With exceptional relations with Vučić, Brnabić, Mirović and literally all ministers, with whom we have daily and open communication, without any delays, those connections are so intertwined that we act as one team. And that should be for the benefit of everyone in Serbia and BiH. Just as the construction of a hydroelectric power plant should bring benefit to all BiH citizens, not just Serbs. I will only mention the obligation of BiH to increase the production of energy from renewable sources. Currently, BiH produces over 60 percent of energy from thermal power plants whereas we should be producing as much in the next ten years from renewable sources and Brussels observe statistics at the state level.
If there was wisdom, Sarajevo would welcome that investment, as we welcome all activities in the other entity. I do not understand the objections except that I am aware at all times of the pathological hatred towards Serbia and the Serbian people, so everything must be ill-intentioned if it comes from Belgrade. Even the first donation of vaccines that arrived in BiH by individuals in Sarajevo had to be maliciously commented on. They got the best answer from their own citizens who rushed to Serbia when Belgrade opened its borders and invited neighbors to come and protect their health.
Q: There was a lot of controversy because of the appointment of Christian Schmidt first of all because there was no decision of the Security Council. Would it be better for BiH without the High Representative?
A: After thirty years, it is time for the people whom the people have voted for to take responsibility for the fate of the country. As long as there is High Representative and foreign judges in the Constitutional Court, the country has no sovereignty, but is a protectorate. Sometimes I think that only the Serbian people care about BiH. We are the only ones inviting to talks. I would like to see a serious analysis of what RS is doing so that it is condemned to such animosities, to be threatened with bans and impositions. Is it normal that in the 21st century, in the middle of Europe, you have a ban on your own position? It is worse than the protectorate because even in such arrangements, people had the right to stand, and to defend themselves as well.
Q: What would you single out as most important projects for RS that follow, first of all when it comes to new large investments?
A: All most important things we are doing are being done in cooperation with Serbia, such as the construction of the highway from Rača to Bijeljina, HES "Gornja Drina", the airport in Trebinje, and there is an agreement for the construction of a gas pipeline through RS. We also proceed with some of our activities, the other day we talked with the investors from China about the construction of the Banja Luka-Prijedor highway and we are talking about investors who are building a highway from Novi Sad to Zrenjanin.
Their ambition is that at the same time when they open the construction works in Zrenjanin, they do the same toward Prijedor, probably in October. We are in the final phase in order to sign an agreement with the Chinese partners on the construction and financing of "Dabar" hydroelectric power plant in Herzegovina by the end of the month. These are the projects that are several decades old, and we are in a position to start with those investments. We are in the final negotiations with the Chinese partners about the hydroelectric power plant on the river Bistrica, and we have negotiations with certain companies from the EU regarding the projects in Ugljevik. RS will have large investment cycle in the next few years.
For Corridor 5c, which connects the EU to Sarajevo and the sea, in the part through RS, we are already implementing the first and the second phases and we expect to agree on the last two phases. We have announced a public call for the construction of a highway from Vukosavlje to Brcko, that is, on the route to Belgrade. Brcko has expressed interest in building a highway on its territory, and the last consultations and preparations are underway with Turkish partners for signing a contract for the construction of the Bijeljina-Brcko highway. And it is known that we are working with Serbia on the section from Bijeljina to Rača, which would connect the highway from Gradiška, through Banja Luka to Belgrade.
Q: What is the situation with coronavirus in RS, are there enough vaccines provided?
A: I would like to take this opportunity to call on all citizens of Serbia and RS to take opportunity to be vaccinated free of charge and voluntarily. We have enough vaccines. There is no other way to return to the situation as before other than vaccination. It is inexplicable that there are still many who avoid vaccines. They should be vaccinated for their sake and for the sake of their families. Research in the world shows and experts claims that over 95% of newly infected people are those unvaccinated which coincides with the situation in RS. The epidemic situation in RS is not alarming yet, but the number of cases are rising.
About 30 percent of citizens have been vaccinated and that figure is few percent higher if those who have been vaccinated in Serbia are added. That is too little, I am not satisfied because I expected that we would have 70% of vaccinated citizens in Serbia and RS. I appeal to the people not to be influenced by some unverified sources, to listen to the experts and to get vaccinated as soon as possible while the epidemic situation is relatively good even though I have to accept the position that someone does not want that.