Currently, there is no mood in the European Union for joining American sanctions against Milorad Dodik, as reported by Deutsche Welle.
We got the impression, reported this portal, that Brussels is waiting for the following Dodik’s moves and attitude of the new US administration.
“Almost all of EU member states show concern about the current developments in the RS”, according to a confidential report from the meeting of the Working Group for the Western Balkans to which Deutsche Welle had access.
“Dodik wants to provoke and produce a crisis. That’s why more appropriate are the non-public reactions because the appropriate public reactions could lead to escalation,” said Matthew Field, Head of the Political Department of the Office of the EU Special Representative in BiH in the report.
He added that the first Dodik’s reaction to US sanctions was as expected: he presented himself as a victim. He obviously puts high hopes in the new American government, but it appears that the sanctions cannot be reversed easily.
The United States of America in the last days of the Obama administration imposed sanctions to Dodik because he violated the law and he represents a significant threat to the implementation of the Dayton Agreement. The sanctions include the freezing of assets and travel ban.
Dodik said that this move “is a revenge of those who were defeated in the elections in the United States.” He believes that the office of the new President Donald Trump will abolish sanctions.
(Source: fokus.ba)