Bosnia and Herzegovina – Saved!

Charles Crawford
You may not have noticed, but in the last few days/weeks/months/years (depending on how you look at it) Bosnia and Herzegovina has been teetering on the Brink of Disaster.
Why?
Oh, for all the familiar reasons. Key posts in the central government unfilled, general political deadlock stretching in all directions, and above all a challenge to the High Representative and his authority through a threatened referendum in Republika Srpska. You might think that if part of the whole point of the dayton Peace Accords was to inflict democracy upon Bosnia, it makes little sense to complain about one or other Entity holding a referendum to consult voters. Didn’t the UK just have one?
Yet in this case things are different, because RS leader Dodik is using the referendum on the issue of the High Representative’s legal powers to undermine the High Representative, which ipso facto is an attack on Dayton!
What’s happened?
The EU has raced to the rescue, the BH High Representative being trumped by an Even Higher EU High Representative, namely Catherine Ashton:
Dodik told a joint news conference that he had chosen to drop the referendum after receiving assurances from Ashton that Serbian concerns about Bosnia’s judicial system would be addressed:
”During talks with Baroness Ashton and other European officials in recent days, we received the highest guarantees that the European Union is ready to tackle the issues surrounding Bosnia and Herzegovina’s judiciary,” Dodik said…
Ashton, whose surprise visit underscored the international community’s alarm, welcomed the decision to drop the divisive poll.
The European Union, she pledged, will start reviewing the role of Bosnia’s judicial institutions. She also echoed Dodik in saying that ”the best way forward is constructive dialogue” on the issue.
Phew.
The first BH HiRep Carl Bildt has been quick to congratulate Baroness Ashton:

EU crisis prevention at its best? Not really. Look what’s happened. Read More »
Srpska verzija teksta, Novi Standard »