Bosnia and Herzegovina is not and cannot be a state, but only a state union that will function only if it accepts the two entities as its foundation, and that is why it cannot have a classic government but only the Council of Ministers with a coordinating role as it has been so far, the president of the country's Serb entity, or Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, said in a newspaper interview published on Friday.
"Bosnia and Herzegovina is a state union consisting of two entities and three peoples. (...) It consists of delegated representatives of the two entities and the three peoples. That's why it doesn't have a government and will never have one," Dodik said in an interview with the Banja Luka-based daily Nezavisne Novine.
Dodik accused political parties mainly supported by the Bosniak (Muslim) electorate of trying to topple such a concept and establish a government system in which the Bosniaks, thanks to their numerical supremacy, would be dominant in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He said that was the reason why Bosnian Serb political parties supported the two strongest Croat parties, the HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990, in negotiations on the formation of a state-level government.
"No one can swear that it will be long-term cooperation, but what is important is that we have found ourselves in the same position on the open issue of forming the Council of Ministers and that we share the same fears with the Croat political leadership," Dodik said.
Dodik said he was not against the Bosnian Croats getting "a republic or an entity" within Bosnia and Herzegovina provided that it did not call into question the existence of Republika Srpska.
"There are still Croats who think that Republika Srpska should not exist, but they are in a minority. I think it is very clear that we respect the fact that Dragan Covic, as the legitimate representative of the Croat people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has said several times that Republika Srpska is unquestionable," Dodik said.
Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a new government when the Social Democratic Party accepts the views of the parties from Republika Srpska, he added.
Nine months after the general election, held in October 2010, the leading parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still negotiating on the formation of a ruling coalition in the country. The lower house of the state parliament, which has to confirm the prime minister-designate proposed by the country's three member presidency, is due to meet on August 25.
