Dayton is in dispute – after Kosovo and Bosnia

We do not recognize Christian Schmidt’s situation (Christian Schmidt – High Commissioner of the International Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina). We are even studying ways to deport him or even arrest him if he enters the territory of Republika Srpska.”AnnounceToday, Milorad Dodik is the head of the Serb entity in the Federal Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

This is not another loud statement from this strange politician from the Western Balkans, who was received and decorated by the Russian president, while being personally sanctioned by the United States. Indeed, today’s statement calls that into question Dayton agreement (1996) which put an end to the civil strife that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia.

It is for this reason that the Washington Embassy in Sarajevo issued the following immediate declaration: “Mr. Dodik’s outrageous threats and ridiculous allegations against the position and authority of the High Commissioner are unacceptable and constitute another step in the dangerous path he has chosen…”“, he says characteristically. In fact, in her previous paragraph she described this rhetorical reference to Dodik as another intentional insult to the Dayton Agreement.

It should be noted that since July, by order of the President of Republika Srpska, the High Commissioner’s orders have not been published and therefore not recognized in the Official Gazette of the Local Government. However, these moves by the Serbian entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not without basis. The United Nations Security Council renewed the mandate of the High Commissioner in the federal state last spring, despite opposition from Russia and China.

Developments in Kosovo

On the front of another hotspot in the Balkan scene, namely Kosovo, we must point out the recent meeting held by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg with the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani. The meeting in itself constitutes a clear message, on the one hand, to recognize the position of the Albanian authorities in Kosovo, and on the other hand, to deviate from the parallel efforts made by the European Union to find a solution to the problem. The crisis that has been simmering for months with Belgrade and the Serb minority in the region.

It is telling that while Mr. Stoltenberg, in a debate in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, tried to talk about NATO-EU cooperation in the Western Balkans and Kosovo, German MEP Reinhard Pottiver, in his position, is bringing deep contradictions to the surface. Its real endeavors are on this hot front.

In particular, the European Union Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, was accused of being unilaterally influenced by the positions of his country’s government – Spain, which does not recognize the state of Kosovo – and therefore not being tough enough with Serbia. . Praising the determination of the NATO Secretary General, the MEP noted that this decision indicates the path that the European Union must follow in order to “adjust” Serbian politics!

In the context of calming the crisis and subsequent communications between the Pristina and Belgrade authorities, elections are expected to be announced in four municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo, which is historically and mostly inhabited by Serbs. However, Pristina’s proposal to hold local referendums demanding the resignation of municipal authorities resulting from the elections, where the Serb majority was absent, further complicates the issue.

However, Albanian “mayors” are taking more provocative measures, such as vacating public buildings for institutionally protected bodies of Serbian society. Meanwhile, the head of the multinational force (UN-mandated) KFOR confirmed that although the situation was worrying, there was no evidence of further flare-up.

Rama and Bellery

In this unstable Balkan landscape, we should note the obsession of the people of Tirana to maintain the crisis in relations between Albania and Greece, which was caused by the quite troubled imprisonment of the elected mayor of Himara, Fredis Belleris. The Albanian Prime Minister seeks to get caught in a game of “the hen laid the egg or the hen laid the egg” and while he has filed a quick lawsuit, he insists that he is now a prisoner of the court’s decisions regarding the provision of the possibility of taking the oath and thus taking over his duties from the ousted mayor.

He appears to be in control of the game, although a close reading of his public statements reveals concern about the consequences of political discrimination against the indigenous Greek national minority. At a recent meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Socialist Party, he exclaimed: “What does Greece ask of me?”

It is also clear from his other similar evasions that he seeks on the one hand to abandon his personal involvement in the case of the deprivation of the mayor of Himaras of his freedom and rights and on the other hand to appear as… a hero fighting a hurricane with a Greek conspiracy against him!

In this context, former Foreign Minister Olta Tsatska was held accountable in relation to the Belleri case. It is a popular secret that Tsatska’s strict attitude towards him has something to do with the controversial business activities of her husband, Artan Gatsi, on the so-called Albanian Riviera.