Bosnia’s Cantons ‘Must be Scrapped’
balkaninsight.com
07 July 2008 Sarajevo - Bosnia’s internal setup is ‘dysfunctional’ and the cantons system in the larger Federation entity should be scrapped, a member of the European Parliament argues.
The statement from Doris Pack, chairwoman of the European Parliament Committee for South-East Europe triggered differing reactions from Bosnian Serb, Croat and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) leaders, local media reported on Monday.
These reactions reflect all the difficulties and complexities which constitutional changes – required as a part of country’s European Union accession – face in Bosnia. Any new constitutional negotiations are highly unlikely until after the October local elections.
“If your country wants to enter into the European Union then its institutions have to be efficient,” Doris Pack said in an interview published by Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz on Sunday.
Bosnia’s constitution – adopted as a part of the Dayton peace accord which ended the 1992-1995 war – has created a complex internal setup. The country is weak at state level and has two highly decentralised entities – the Federation and Republika Srpska. – and the separate Brcko district. The Federation is further divided into ten cantons.
Pack said that both Bosnian entities should be reformed but especially stressed that the Federation should be “simplified.”
“Maybe the number of cantons should be reduced. Or maybe they should be abolished! Why do they have to exist?” she said, elaborating that cantonal responsibilities could be divided between entity and municipal levels.
Pack also added that establishment of a third, Bosnian Croat entity – for which Croat politicians lobbied during and after the war – is “not necessary” and “would only complicate the situation even further.”
Bosnian Serb leaders welcomed Pack’s statement as proof that the Federation, not Republika Srpska, is the biggest problem in the country. Rajko Vasic, the executive secretary of the ruling Bosnian Serb Union of Independent Social Democrats, said they would accept any changes to the Federation as long as Republika Srpska is preserved in its current form.
On the other side, Bosnian Croat and Bosniak politicians rejected Pack’s suggestion. Most of them support a thorough constitutional overhaul which would abolish both entities and establish a new regional division of the country along non-ethnic lines. This option is strongly rejected by Bosnian Serb leaders.
“This is an unacceptable solution, which would only cement the two-entity division of the country,” said Miso Relota, spokesman for Bosnia’s Croat Democratic Union, HDZ BiH.
The Vice President of the ruling Bosnian Party of Democratic Action, Sefik Dzaferovic, said the setup should be changed not only in one but in both entities.
