A Bosnian Christmas Carol

Underneath holiday celebrations, merry gatherings of families and friends and last-minute shopping sprees, a few small miracles of potentially big consequences occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina this Christmas.

The party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, SZBH – the second strongest Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) party has grudgingly given up its two-year long insistence on non-transparent selection for strategic investors in country’s power sector.
(Read more: Bitter Entente Unblocks Bosnia Energy Projects )

True, this move could further worsen relations in Bosnia’s already tense political scene, but it’s Christmas and I’ll choose to be optimistic for a change.
 
Therefore I see this development as a chance for de-blocking of privatization of several lucrative public companies, as well as a better selection of foreign firms which would invest into construction of new hydro and thermo power plants. Nothing would be more important than this at the time of worsening global recession.
 
But this was not the end of miracles. The ruling Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, SDA, held a meeting of its executive board on the Christmas Eve. In an inspiring speech, the party president, Sulejman Tihic said that Bosniaks should stop dwelling on the war and past injustices.
 
Instead, they should turn toward the future and shape that future through compromises reached with all other peoples living in the troubled country.