Interview: Valentin Inzko, EU Special Representative and High Representative in BiH: “There will be no new war in BiH”


Sarajevo-x: The platitude that ‘significant progress has been achieved’ in numerous areas has been repeated for years but the fact is that BiH has not come far in some key issues related to coming closer to Europe. When will this country, in your opinion, really achieve significant steps forward towards Euro-Atlantic integration in the real meaning of the word?


Valentin Inzko: It’s no secret that over the last three years reforms have come to a standstill. The signing of the Stabilisation and Association agreement between BiH and the EU has not led to the hoped for sea-change in attitudes amongst the political class that would move Bosnia and Herzegovina faster into Euro-Atlantic integration. Instead the EU and the international community, particularly the US, have once again been the ones to provide the impetus for progress. And as long as political leaders play only lip service to promises of EU integration nothing will change; neither the living standards of ordinary citizens nor the speed at which the country moves towards the EU. Sometimes I have a feeling that there is no sincere political will among the political leaders to implement reforms that would move the country forward on its EU path. Politicians are too focused on some personal, ethnic, and sometimes nationalist agendas. The other problem lies in the functioning of BiH as a system, which is proving to be insufficiently functional. The decision-making process in BiH is too slow and there are too many blockages at the state level that stand in the way of achieving important and swift progress in EU integration. Bearing in mind that only BiH as a whole can be a partner in the negotiations with the EU, we need constitutional reform to make BiH more functional and have it come closer to the EU. Politicians of BiH therefore have to try to reach agreement within the Butmir process.


Sarajevo-x: In order to make transition from the OHR into the EUSR it is necessary to meet the famous five objectives and two conditions, which have been mentioned so often recently that almost everyone has forgotten what they are about. You have recently stated that at the moment we cannot be proud of progress regarding state and military property and Brèko. What stage are these issues at?


Valentin Inzko: It’s a mixed report. There has been progress; for example with the adoption of Amendment 1 to the BiH constitution, which cemented the Brèko District into the BiH constitution, a significant step was made towards completing the Brèko final award. However on the State and Defence property requirements the situation is less promising. Domestic politicians have been unable to agree on even technical elements and therefore the International Community had to step in to get the State property inventory moving. I have to say that the Federation of BiH has been constructive in this process, which is something that I unfortunately cannot say for the Republika Srpska. I still hope, however, that the RS will also provide us with access to property-related information. If that happens, I expect the inventory to be complete before the next meeting of the PIC. We are facing a kind of paradox: the Republika Srpska, which is the most outspoken in asking for OHR/EUSR transition, is the least cooperative on the ground, which does not contribute to a faster transition.


Something else is important regarding the OHR’s closure – many in BiH have lost sight of what this is about. The international community’s aim is to ensure that Bosnia and Herzegovina is a peaceful and viable democracy on course for integration in Euro-Atlantic institutions. One of the milestones on this road is the closure of the OHR, and transition to an EU-led presence reflecting the country’s EU trajectory. The closure of the OHR is not the goal in itself but an indication that the country has come to the point in its development where it can move forward without the OHR.


Sarajevo-x: Are there issues we can brag about? 


Valentin Inzko: A lot of things. The wealth of Bosnia’s resources can be matched only by it’s human resources. Many countries wish they had Bosnia and Herzegovina’s hydro, power transmission, forestry, tourism and agricultural potential and the skilled and educated workforce that can maximise these natural resources. People must remember that the EU has given BiH an unequivocal signal that BiH will be accepted into the EU – many countries are working hard just to get such recognition.


Sarajevo-x: The next PIC session is in November and it is already evident that ‘significant progress’ in meeting goals and objectives can hardly happen, which means that we will have to wait a long time for the transition of the OHR. Do you believe that you will truly be the last High Representative or do you already see a person who might succeed you?


Valentin Inzko: There is still time before November 18, the date of the next PIC Steering Board meeting. This week US and EU experts return to Bosnia and Herzegovina to continue talks around the process that began in Butmir. This process is of vital importance for BiH. The country and its citizens stand to gain structures that will equip Bosnia and Herzegovina with the mechanisms it needs to be considered for NATO and EU membership. I hope that political leaders, and their parties, see this for what it is: the best opportunity that has come along in a long time, and act accordingly.


Sarajevo-x: All High Representatives were reproached for not using the Bonn Powers sufficiently and you have been too. How do you interpret the fact that BiH citizens always expect the arrival of the High Representative with Bonn Powers, while they vote for the same people at elections every time and expect you to punish these people afterwards?


Valentin Inzko: You have accurately clarified the situation in BiH in relation to the exercise of the Bonn Powers. Politicians of all colours in BiH today have built their positions around the Bonn Powers; on the one hand there is a demand for them to be used more – Draconian punishments to be meted out by the High Representative. On the other they are presented as synonymous with everything that is wrong with BiH and the main brake on BiH’s democratic and European development.


I have my own mandate and instruments. BiH citizens must assume their share of responsibility when they vote, as do politicians and the international community. Since I came to BiH I have been trying to explain publicly that citizens have the same responsibility and strength to change things in BiH with their votes in elections. They should ask themselves the right things before voting: what sort of politics will ensure for me and my children a job, good schools, roads, health system, etc. They should not trust nationalist rhetoric, because it has brought no good to Bosnia and Herzegovina and people in this country. I wish to say, of course, that the responsibility for the future of the country should be shifted from the international community to the politicians and public of Bosnia and Herzegovina. One should make a move from Dayton towards Brussels, from the OHR era towards the EUSR era.


Sarajevo-x: After the last meeting in Butmir Carl Bildt said that the rhetoric of BiH politicians in the negotiating chamber significantly differed from statements later given to the media aimed at voters. How much do you see this practice and do you think that opening the next meeting to the public might prevent that?


Valentin Inzko: There is always a difference between what politicians say behind closed doors and what they say in public – in the end, politicians must act in accordance with the wishes of their electorate. At this stage, the decision about which approach to choose: meetings open or closed to the public – must be made on the basis of “which approach is more likely to succeed in the negotiations?” If negotiations behind closed doors are more likely to result in an agreement – then let it be so. The international community is still engaged with political leaders in order to ensure that a bad compromise is not possible.


Sarajevo-x: Politicians in BiH constantly, and especially as the elections approach, use inflammatory rhetoric based on the war and on division along national lines, while almost none of them mention the future or ways in which BiH could emerge from the current situation. How can one prevent them from doing this and how dangerous is it?


Valentin Inzko: There will be no new war in BiH. Be assured that we all learned a lesson in the nineties. Political stability is something else. A way out of the current stagnation is not like re-inventing the wheel. The EU association process specifies measures that lead towards more prosperity. We will see progress only when BiH politicians decide to go that way.


Sarajevo-x: How do you comment on the fact that Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of the RS, which is part of BiH, used budgetary funds to pay for the transportation and personally welcomed a person who was convicted of the most terrifying war crimes?


Valentin Inzko: Such moves by the holders of the highest political functions are inappropriate, unacceptable and are not in accordance with the fundamental values underpinning the European Union and the modern world. I can say that they are harmful because they do not contribute to good understanding between the peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its entities. I also believe they bring most damage to Republika Srpska, because they create an impression that the current official policy in Republika Srpska does not differ in the least from the policy of genocide and ethnic cleansing from the nineties, but supports it. This is a catastrophic signal that the biggest friends of this entity cannot accept. However, it is indicative that no representative of Serbia was present at the arrival of Biljana Plavšiæ from prison.


Sarajevo-x: After the meeting of the EU Council of Ministers, Sulejman Tihiæ said that he is afraid of the international community’s withdrawal from the Butmir process. How likely is such a development?


Valentin Inzko: The EU and the US began a dialogue between BiH politicians that has broad support among the international community. Much political capital has been invested in this process and I can see a strong wish within the international community to achieve an agreement on constitutional change that would make BiH more functional and less expensive and which would make it possible for BiH to come closer to the EU and NATO. I think we need to be more concerned about the possibility of some political parties withdrawing from the Butmir process, not the international community.


Sarajevo-x: After both rounds of discussions in Butmir, you do not look happy at all. Do you believe in the success of the Butmir process or are you afraid that it may end up like the Prud process, which is no longer even mentioned now?


Valentin Inzko: The process that has been launched represents a unique moment that promises a great deal. If the parties reach an agreement, it will enable faster movement on the road of European and Euro-Atlantic integration – positioning BiH on the way towards NATO and the EU membership – with all the advantages that membership brings. But, if the leaders of the political parties fail to achieve an agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina will stagnate at least, and BiH citizens will feel the negative effects of a bad economy and an aggravated political climate in which further progress will become more and more difficult.


Sarajevo-x: You said recently that this is a poor, country although it has all the preconditions not to be. Do you believe that the citizens of this country are going to understand that the future lies in the economy and in cooperation?


Valentin Inzko: I believe citizens of this country understand that. Turn around and look, people do business, maintain contacts and partnerships regardless of their ethnic background or nationality. Political leaders might convince you that the economy and business are of secondary importance and are less important than the latest big crisis they have created for the media. But, that is not the case, just the opposite.


Sarajevo-x: The biometric passports issue has shown that, if there is a political will, some issues that at some point may seem impossible to resolve can be resolved in a very short period of time. Do you believe in a similar development when it comes to other steps related to visa liberalization?


Yes, but I have been lobbying long for the lifting of the visa regime. When people cannot go out of Bosnia and Herzegovina they do not see what it is possible to have in modern Europe – standards that people in other places take for granted. Only when people see this in other countries can they demand the same here.


Sarajevo-x: Do you agree with Olli Rehn, who stated that BiH could be on the White Schengen List in mid 2010?


Valentin Inzko: Yes, I agree fully. But only on condition that all tasks placed before it by the European Union are met. This story is simple, and the meeting of the conditions is possible.


Sarajevo-x: How do you envisage the functioning of the EUSR, if it ever becomes functional?


Valentin Inzko: I have a dual function: I am both the High Representative and the EU Special Representative. My EUSR staff are already on the ground. The fact that OHR is able to close will be an indication that the country is ready for a different, EU orientation. Enlargement Commissioner Rehn has said that at this point BiH would be seen as a credible country for candidate status. The EU Delegation, on the technical side, and the EUSR, on the political side, would work closely together with the country’s institutions to move BiH through the reforms necessary for the EU accession process. At each stage the EU would provide technical and financial support for development. This is a well-trodden path that central Europe has already benefited from.


Sarajevo-x: In your opinion, when will BiH join the EU?


Valentin Inzko: When BiH is ready. It is up to the politicians of this country to carry BiH to EU membership. They should start working in earnest so that BiH can have candidate status and start membership negotiations. I wish for this to happen as soon as possible.

Europa.ba