Bosnian Parties Split Over New Croat Assembly

Bosnia's top international official, High Representative Valentin Inzko, said that the country needs honest dialogue within established institutions, and not new parallel structures.

"The era of parallel institutions is behind us," Inzko said, adding that the only way to make crucial changes in Bosnia is through relevant state institutions.

Inzko said he will continue to cooperate with anyone - regardless of whether they participated in the session of the Croat National Assembly or not – who is willing to respect Dayton, rule of law and work within the institutions of the country.

"No party or individual has the exclusive right to represent any constituent people," Inzko stated.

"What is needed more than ever is an honest dialogue across the political spectrum within the institutions of this country, which have a mandate to adopt and implement the changes," he added.

The Croat National Assembly was launched by the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, and its sister party HDZ 1990, Bosnia's main Croat parties, after the two were not included in the regional government formed last month.

While it remains unclear what role the new Croat structure will have in practice, how it will link up with the local authorities, and how it will be financed, the parties say the new body will serve as the main political, executive and coordinating structure for all of the vital interests of Croats in Bosnia.

Mile Lasic, a political science professor at the University of Mostar, said that the assembly was unlikely to produce any radical changes in Bosnia's structure, while noting that the meeting did not feature extremist ideas.

"With the exception of a few extremists, I can say that the speakers were mostly moderate. However, I think that this can't produce any radical changes in the political situation in Bosnia," Lasic told Balkan Insight.

At the Assembly's first meeting in Mostar, held on Tuesday, participants demanded constitutional reforms granting Croats equal rights and condemned the “the gross violation” of the electoral will of the community, while describing the current government of the Bosniak-Croat Federation as illegal.

The HDZs, along with eight minor Croat parties, also said that Bosnia must be divided into more federal units, including at least one territorial unit with a Croat majority.

The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the war in Bosnia divided the country into two entities, the predominantly Serb Republika Srpska and the majority Bosniak-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosniaks in the Federation outnumber the Croat population, and some members of their community have agitated for greater control over 'Croat areas' in the years since the war.

Bosnia's three member presidency, meanwhile, is divided over the new Croat body.

Serb member Nebojsa Radmanovic, who is also a member of the ruling SNSD in Republika Srpska, said that the Assembly was legitimate, and that he supports any calls for the equality of all in Bosnia.

Bakir Izetbegovic, the Presidency's Bosniak member, said that the establishment of a Croat entity in Bosnia is “unrealistic and may lead the whole country into crisis”.

The official Croat member of the Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, noted that a request for a third entity is not new. He warned, however, that it is not possible to draw new borders inside Bosnia without weapons and blood.

Komsic is a member of the mainly Bosniak SDP and some Croats say he is not their legitimate representative because he was largely voted into office by Bosniaks. His party has largely criticised the new assembly.

SDP official Damir Masic stated that the meeting in Mostar “wasn’t a Croat National Assembly, but an assembly of two HDZs and groups that have not crossed the electoral threshold even in voting for local bodies.

“Conclusions brought by representatives of the two parties at the meeting on Monday, are, in practice, non-binding for all of the others actors in the political and any other life in the Federation,” Masic said.

Opposition parties in Republika Srpska, RS, have also spoken out against the assembly and calls for a third, mainly Croat, entity, which they believe threatens their own region.

Mladen Ivanic, president of Party of Democratic Progress, PDP, said that he couldn’t support the new assembly’s ideas of re-organising Bosnia’s territorial structure, because “the conclusion raises the question of Dayton, which said that the territory of Republika Srpska cannot be questioned”.

The largest opposition party, the nationalist Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, said they would not support any document that includes a change to a two-entity structure of Dayton Bosnia.

Meanwhile, the ruling party in Republika Srpska, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, believes that the new Croat assembly and its support for a third entity do not concern Republika Srpska in terms of territory.

“I do not believe that this is a threat to Republika Srpska. I believe that Croats have the right to organise as they see fit, in accordance with constitutional law, and to express their political views,” said the leader of SNSD and president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik.

Party official Rajko Vasic told media the the assembly is a “positive step towards the equality of its three constituent peoples in BiH”.

The reaction of the SNSD was expected, as it has boosted cooperation with the two HDZ parties since the October elections. The Serb and Croat political groupings have met several times and indicated that they will propose a state government together.

Some analysts say the Croat parties have found an ally in Dodik and his party, who support the HDZs because their campaign for greater Croat autonomy diverts attention away from criticism of Republika Srpska.