Federation parties condemn Tadić meeting

BiH

Parties from the Bosnian Federation have condemned Serbian President Boris Tadić’s meeting with Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović.

Amir Zurkić from the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) said that Tadić’s meeting with the leaders of the Union of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the absence of SDA leader Sulejmana Tihić “certainly doesn’t help Serbia on its path to the EU,“ Sarajevo media report.

Zurkić said that it was “clear that the scenario of political instability of the Nineties wants to reassert itself.“

“The principles of countries in the EU are clear, that there should be no interference in the internal affairs of other states. Relations between political leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina have become strained recently, and this visit is proof of the activities of certain forces from behind the scenes,“ he noted.

Party for Bosnia-Herzegovina deputy leader Beriz Belkić stressed that his party had still to adopt a formal position regarding Dodik and Čović’s meeting with Tadić, but that he believed that “these kinds of meetings always stir up distrust and a certain anxiety.“

“I sincerely hope that these talks, which were rather untransparent and out of the blue, weren’t geared towards interfering in internal Bosnian policy,“ Belkić told daily Dnevni Avaz.

The meeting also met with an adverse reaction from certain politicians in Banja Luka. Party of Democratic Progress deputy leader Mladen Ivanić did not see the meeting as anything noteworthy.

“It’s just Čović and Dodik promoting themselves, nothing else. I don’t think that will have a major impact on policy in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is an unusual event, but I wouldn’t attach any particular significance to it,“ Ivanić said.

At the meeting last Friday in Belgrade, the three protagonists in the controversy discussed the political and economic situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, according to Tadić’s press office.

RS Prime Minister Dodik said on Saturday that the meeting should not be politicized.

Stating that he and Čović had met with the Serbian president separately, Dodik said that “dialogue is good in any case, and it’s good Čović came to Belgrade.“

“We didn’t think it was a problem when Tihić came to Belgrade, nor do we see it as any problem that he’s going to Turkey or any other country in the Islamic world. We didn’t see any problem either when Bosniak and Croat representatives went together to Zagreb,“ he stressed.