The president returns to the country where he was working two yearsfrom 1997 to 1999, in the Cabinet of Carlos Westendorp, then High Representative
The head of the Executive rehearses his role as rotating president of the EU and asks the Bosnians to accelerate the reforms and “reduce tensions”. Visit the Sarajevo Library and pays tribute to the 23 soldiers who died in the country in the Plaza de España in Mostar
-I’m excited to be here again. bosnian. I was there when I was 28…
Pedro Sánchez’s memory faltered somewhat on the flight that was taking him from Madrid to Belgrade, on the first stop of his mini-tour to the Western Balkans. Because he was barely 25 years old when he arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was 1997, and it stayed until 1999, in the midst of the war in Kosovo. That young Sanchez was member of the Cabinet of the UN High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovinathe former Spanish minister Carlos Westendorp. The same Sánchez who, already as President of the Government, stepped on this Saturday, July 30, sarajevo Y Mostar. 25 years later.
The sides of the Avenida de los Francotiradores, the one that led the socialist leader to the headquarters of the country’s presidency, still showed, with their buildings pierced by bullets and bombs, the wounds of a savage and devastating war (1991-1995) that left 100,000 dead and a Bosnia in ruins. The fight ended with the dayton accords of 1995, which served to slowly cement a still weak national structure. The pact, sponsored by the United States, was based on a model of delicate balance between three ethnic communities (Bosniaks or Bosnian-Muslims, Serbs and Croats) and two political entities endowed with vast powers (the Republika Srpskadominated by Bosnian Serbs, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovinamajority Bosniak).
The tension in recent years has been increasing in the country, largely due to the will of the Republika Srpska and the Serbian leader, Milorad Dodik, to empty the State of powers
But the tension in recent years has been increasinglargely due to the will of the Republika Srpska and the Serbian leader, Milorad Dodikof emptying the State of powers, also in open defiance of the authority of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the one in charge of supervising the implementation of the Dayton agreements, since since August 2021 occupies the German Christian Schmidt. Political friction, however, does not threaten for now, according to Spanish diplomatic sources, the stability of the country, guaranteed by the presence of the European peacekeeping mission (EUFOR), what happened from 600 to 1,100 troops last Februaryreinforcement that was due not only deterioration of global security caused by the invasion in Ukraine, but also by the Russian influence in the region, especially in the Republika Srpska. Spain only has three soldiers deployed today, but since 1992 they have participated in UN, NATO and EU missions 46,000 soldiers23 of whom died.
The political confrontation was cited by Sánchez during his meeting with the three rotating presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Bosniak Šefik Džaferovićthe Serbian Milorad Dodik and the Croatian Željko Komšić —The Head of State is a collegiate institution through which the three presidents lead the country for four years in eight-month rotating shifts— and also during his subsequent appearance, without questions, with Džaferović. He asked the three leaders “reduce tension”, “diluting the current rhetoric that does not contribute to progress and returning to institutionality”, betting “always on dialogue” —“and the international community will be there”—, and put the citizenry “first, since it is the beneficiary of the pending reforms”.
.@sanchezcastejon shows its “support” for the candidacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU https://t.co/jZ6j8EILx0 pic.twitter.com/AyUVXAC8C3
– Europe Press TV (@europapress_tv) July 30, 2022
“Go an extra mile”
And it is that Bosnia looks at the blockade in the face of the legislative and presidential elections next October 2nd. Elections, said the socialist leader, that must be held “normally”. The difficulties of matching balances and quotas have led to the fact that since 2018, since the last polls, it has been impossible to agree on a Government in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country of complex balances in which three constituent peoples and two political entities coexist, is the only Balkan country that does not enjoy the status of a candidate country
Sánchez, as he did this Friday in Serbia and will do in the last days of his tour (in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania), called for “accelerating the reforms & rdquor; required by Brussels for entry into the European Union, including the electoral system and the one that affects the Judiciary. Although progress has been made, the Bosnians must “go an extra mile”.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Balkan country that accumulates the most delay in its accession to the community bloc. It is the only one of the five, in fact, that does not have candidate country status. It applied to join the EU in 2016 and Brussels marked 14 priorities to, once completed, start the accession negotiations. Sánchez defends that the seven most important reforms be undertaken so that they are granted the status of a candidate State. In any case, the forecast of a prompt incorporation seems not very close today.
The journey of the PG continues, @sanchezcastejon, for the Western Balkans. This morning he visits Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he has held a joint meeting with the three co-presidents of the country.
Spain thus shows its support for EU accession and its reform processes. pic.twitter.com/0aEEkDqOdP
– The Moncloa (@fromlamoncloa) July 30, 2022
The head of the Executive, before Džaferović, once again expressed his support “total and resounding to the region” and in the case of Bosnia, its willingness to “transform the already historic legacy into initiatives for the democratic and economic progress of the country”. His “firm commitment to the European perspective” of the country, of the Balkans. Spain, he continued, lends its “absolute support” to be a candidate for entry into the community bloc, and is a “friendly country” that defends the “territorial integrity & rdquor; from Bosnia. A pertinent emphasis in the face of threats of secession and which he also repeated in Belgrade on Friday, in this case to underline that Spain still does not recognize the unilateral independence of Kosovo.
After the war, Spain actively contributed to the reconstruction of the Sarajevo City Hall. It has been a real pleasure to tour it today with @BenjaminaKaric. We will always accompany Bosnia and Herzegovina, as we have done at other equally crucial moments in its history. pic.twitter.com/Sl4h3OZJ5l
– Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) July 30, 2022
Intensify relationships
Džaferović defined Spain asgreat friend” from Bosnia and thanked Sánchez for supporting the “European path & rdquor; of his country at the last European Council, in June, and to claim sovereignty and territorial integrity and to encourage reforms. Bosnia hopes that with the Spanish presidency of the EU, which starts in the second half of 2023, it will serve to accelerate the pace. And that it also serves to intensify economic and commercial relations between the two countries, because the policies are “perfect, great”. In fact, the meeting analyzed the interest of Spanish companies to invest in Bosnia and Herzegovina in areas in which they are “world leaders”, such as engineering, construction or renewable energies. The trade balance is favorable to Spain and reached 116 million euros in 2021.
The old Library of Sarajevo was bombed by the Serbs in 1992. The fire devoured more than two million books and documents. It was rebuilt with Spanish help and reopened in 2014
Related news
Sánchez then visited the old Sarajevo Library, today the seat of the City Council, with the mayor. The building was bombed by the Serbs in 1992 and the flames devoured more than two million books and documents. Spain participated financially in the reconstruction of the library, reopened in 2014, coinciding with the centenary of the First World War, whose outbreak occurred just a few meters from there, on the nearby Latin Bridge, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated. .
.@sanchezcastejon attends the tribute to the Spanish soldiers who fell in the war in former Yugoslavia https://t.co/iPfxMAsUp6 pic.twitter.com/GCfzgWuo2m
– Europe Press TV (@europapress_tv) July 30, 2022
In the afternoon, and already in Mostar, on the banks of the Neretva River, the president paid tribute to the 23 compatriots who died between 1993 and 2008 accompanied by the mayor of the city. The act was solemn and sober, and in which the only two Spanish soldiers from EUFOR were present on Bosnian soil (the third is in the Belgian barracks). With Alderman Sánchez, he toured the historic center and also the medieval bridge with a single arch that was destroyed during the war and later rebuilt on its rubble, today a symbol of national reconciliation in the country. Sánchez reached the top of the Old Bridge among dozens of onlookers: this weekend is the Neretva jumping contest, a tradition of more than four centuries. But just as his entourage passed, there was no one who jumped 24 meters down, towards the river. The next he did in a few minutes. The chief executive closed his day there. On Sunday it continues through Podgorica and Skopje. The last station, Tirana, on Monday.
Serbia’s President Attempts To Seduce Pedro Sanchez Through The Power Of Music pic.twitter.com/jaX2vt6SFo
— Le Chou News (@LeChouNews) July 30, 2022
The illiberal Vučić turns to Sanchez
Spain is considered a “great friend” of the Balkan countries. Gratitude is not only in the words, but also in the gestures. Serbia turned to the visit of the president, on Friday and Saturday. Pedro Sánchez was received with honors at the presidential palace and, after the meeting with the head of state, Aleksandar Vučićand the appearance of both, was entertained with a dinner in which a singer performed Luz Casal’s song ‘A year of love’. The whole city was adorned with 3,000 Spanish flags and with lights announcing the visit of the socialist leader. For Belgrade, the fact that Spain still does not recognize Kosovo, which is conceived for Serbia as a nuclear and foundational part of its nation, as well as the support it provides for its integration into the EU, is key.
Never has a president of the Spanish Government set foot in Serbia, but neither has he in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Tirana. Yes, in Bosnia, although the last high-level visit was in 2012. The entry of these countries into the EU is proving to be complicated and slow, due to the political reforms that remain to be carried out and their more fragile economies. In addition, the presidents of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučićand Montenegrin, Milo Đukanović, are the ones that are most clearly demonstrating illiberal tendenciesthose who most flirt with authoritarian behavior, something that Brussels does not like.