Mladen Ivanic: Republika Srpska doesn’t need a Referendum about accession to NATO
A request for a MAP (action plan for accession to NATO) was signed and agreed to by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), when the Serb member was Nebojsa Radmanovic, with the caveat that Radmanovic was a non-factor since the decision was made by Milorad Dodik himself, the current Serb member of the Presidency Mladen Ivanic said yesterday at a press conference in Banja Luka.
“That is the only document that exists and there is no other similar document, so the responsibility for beginning the program for the MAP falls squarely onto SNSD. Find another such document and I’ll immediately apologize to the public. In that document, the orientation of that Presidency for full membership in NATO is clear. No one but people from SNSD ever mentioned something like that. Now, I don’t know why they are raising their embarrassment to that level and attacking others, that’s something for them to answer,” Ivanic said.
SNSD in previous days criticized Mladen Ivanic because of his statement that courts will decide about military property.
“SNSD introduced that to the courts. Veliki Zep is a case that was opened in 2014, when SNSD was the absolute ruler. And at the request of the institutions of RS, a procedure for public insight was organized in which anyone who wishes can critique something. They are now pointing fingers at someone else and the courts, something only SNSD can do, while that was a consequence of their actions, their shallowness, unpreparedness, or lack of knowledge. We’re now paying that price and they’re the only ones yelling, while the consequences are catastrophic. Who appealed to the Constitutional Court and allowed it to get involved? Again, the institutions of RS, led by SNSD. Why didn’t SNSD give up its stance regarding requesting a MAP, why do they need to defer to the citizenry if they have the power to independently decide,” asked Ivanic and added that the talks about a referendum are entirely unfounded.
“My opinion was voiced at the beginning of 2015 in the media in Sarajevo and it was very clear: there is no Serb politician that can vote to enter NATO until Serbia is in NATO. Why would a referendum be necessary for that. That’s just covering the public and running away from one’s own stance. Therefore, this is the beginning of one campaign in which SNSD will try to throw mud at anyone else for their own mistakes, both in the case of the MAP and the military property. If they knew better, they would know that the question of Veliki Zep cannot be implemented at other locations since it isn’t a precedent setting decision. Also, they would know that courts with territorial jurisdiction would decide on other cases, in other words, the courts of RS. But they need a fake story, yelling, and finger pointing, as well as forcing others to defend themselves for SNSD’s mistakes,” Ivanic said.
Regarding the exchange of ambassadors, Ivanic said that he agreed with Dragan Covic to allow the Serbian ambassador to a Croat, while a Serb will come to Belgrade as the ambassador.
“Unlike them, between Belgrade and Zagreb, as a representative of the Serb people, I will always choose Belgrade. Why they’re frustrated with Zagreb, what the reason they’re suffering after Zagreb, ask them,” noted Ivanic.
Regarding the question whether he’d sue someone for showing him the middle finger, as it happened to Bakir Izetbegovic, Ivanic said that everyone has a right to his own opinion but that he wouldn’t do that unless someone physically endangered him.
(Source: Klix.ba)