Dodik: New Constitution to define self-determination

RS's leader says Bosnia's new Constitution should define principles like self-determination and breakaway.

Izvor: Beta

Tuesday, 29.01.2008.

15:24

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RS's leader says Bosnia's new Constitution should define principles like self-determination and breakaway. Speaking to reporters in Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska (RS) Prime Minister and leader of the Union of Independent Social Democrats Milorad Dodik said that they were “the leading principles of the UN Charter, promoted during its compilation, and represent the typical position of many countries whose make-up is of a complicated character.” Dodik: New Constitution to define self-determination Dodik said that he wished that the same right enshrined within the UN Charter, which is recognized and applied throughout the world, “be included as a possibility for the future, and the Bosnian Constitution.” He said that the basis for constitutional reform in Bosnia-Hercegovina should be the Dayton Accords and the current Constitution in order to preserve the national balance defined by these documents. “If someone wants a new approach to Bosnia-Hercegovina, and it’s not the Dayton principle, then he has to accept that we are holding talks, and these don’t have to finish with Bosnia-Hercegovina as one country, but dissolution is possible also,” explained the RS prime minister. Dodik reiterated that Bosnia-Hercegovina was not in question “while the RS was a part of it,” but that if anyone “doesn’t recognize the RS, then we don’t recognize Bosnia-Hercegovina.” He added that he felt that the opposition Serb Democratic Party should participate in talks on constitutional change also, though he did not agree that negotiations should be postponed until Kosovo’s status had been settled. Dodik said that it was “irrelevant if the remaining parties, like the RS Serb Radical Party headed by Milanka Mihajlic took part in the constitutional changes,” pointing out that those parties would be able to express their opinions on the changes in parliament after the “big parties” had reached an agreement. “Parties who say that constitutional change should be put off until the end of the Kosovo status process think that Kosovo is directly linked to Bosnia-Hercegovina,” the RS prime minister explained, adding that the entity would remain peaceful and stable even in the event of the Kosovo Albanians declaring independence. He stressed that RS representatives would not allow Bosnian institutions to recognize Kosovo independence. Milorad Dodik (FoNet, archive)

Dodik: New Constitution to define self-determination

Dodik said that he wished that the same right enshrined within the UN Charter, which is recognized and applied throughout the world, “be included as a possibility for the future, and the Bosnian Constitution.”

He said that the basis for constitutional reform in Bosnia-Hercegovina should be the Dayton Accords and the current Constitution in order to preserve the national balance defined by these documents.

“If someone wants a new approach to Bosnia-Hercegovina, and it’s not the Dayton principle, then he has to accept that we are holding talks, and these don’t have to finish with Bosnia-Hercegovina as one country, but dissolution is possible also,” explained the RS prime minister.

Dodik reiterated that Bosnia-Hercegovina was not in question “while the RS was a part of it,” but that if anyone “doesn’t recognize the RS, then we don’t recognize Bosnia-Hercegovina.”

He added that he felt that the opposition Serb Democratic Party should participate in talks on constitutional change also, though he did not agree that negotiations should be postponed until Kosovo’s status had been settled.

Dodik said that it was “irrelevant if the remaining parties, like the RS Serb Radical Party headed by Milanka Mihajlić took part in the constitutional changes,” pointing out that those parties would be able to express their opinions on the changes in parliament after the “big parties” had reached an agreement.

“Parties who say that constitutional change should be put off until the end of the Kosovo status process think that Kosovo is directly linked to Bosnia-Hercegovina,” the RS prime minister explained, adding that the entity would remain peaceful and stable even in the event of the Kosovo Albanians declaring independence.

He stressed that RS representatives would not allow Bosnian institutions to recognize Kosovo independence.

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