ZAGREB, SEPTEMBER 23 (ONASA-Hina) – Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Friday that “Serbia is aware that Kosovo is a reality” and will have to get used to it, and regarding the speech of BiH Presidency Chairman Željko Komšić at the UN, he said is not to speak “on behalf of the state or all citizens,” the Office of the President said.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Milanović called for the recognition of Kosovo, which Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić mocked a day later with the words: “Here, I see these 100 countries lined up to listen to Milanović, they are all pushing each other. That’s what they say there : ‘We were invited by Milanović, so we stand to sign for an independent Kosovo'”.
In addition to calling on Serbia and Kosovo to stick to the agreement and what was signed, Milanović said that he “supports the right of the Albanian people in Kosovo and the Kosovo state to exist, as well as their membership in the United Nations.”
“Serbia can obstruct it, it is already doing so, but Serbia is aware that Kosovo is a reality. It’s not easy, but they will have to get used to it,” Milanović emphasized, the press release said.
Regarding Komšić’s speech at the UN General Assembly, Milanović said that he was not speaking “on behalf of the state or all citizens”.
“What he said at the UN is bad because those are statements that evoke terrible associations among the uninformed, and there are such. Among other things, he compared Plenković to Putin because he did not recognize the idiotic verdict of the court in Strasbourg,” Milanović said.
On Wednesday, in front of the participants of the UN General Assembly, Komšić, without directly mentioning the name but obviously alluding to Andrej Plenković, compared the Croatian Prime Minister with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and this because of his comments regarding the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights.
That court established that the constituent nations have a privileged position in the current political system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Voting in elections must be based on political and not ethnic criteria, says the judgment in the case of Slaven Kovačević, otherwise Komšić’s advisor, against BiH.
The court ruled with six votes for and one against that there was a violation of Article 1 of Protocol no. 12. (general prohibition of discrimination) because Kovačević is not adequately represented in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Presidency of BiH.
Commenting on the verdict, the Croatian Prime Minister said that regardless of it, the legitimate representation of Croats in BiH authorities must be insisted upon.
Milanović said, according to the press release, that “those judges are playing peacemakers, before they had a certain function, but what they are doing now, especially with Bosnia and Herzegovina, is a coordinated action between Komšić and others like him from the international community.” He added that the verdicts are “idiotic and dangerous” because they are trying to change the peace agreement from Dayton.
“That is impossible. That is the path to conflict,” said President Milanović.
Recalling the earlier judgments of that court, the Croatian head of state warned that the new judgment now compromises the rights of the three constituent nations in BiH.
“The war ended with the agreement of the three nations, and we should stick to that if we don’t want something similar to happen again, and not engage in sabotage with the aim of someone forcing their way into the BiH Presidency and stealing an entire constituent nation. This is an attempt to force Bosnia and Herzegovina to change its Constitution – that is impossible and there is no majority for that,” the president continued.
He emphasized that the court in Strasbourg, in coordination with Komšić and part of Brussels, is putting pressure on the constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina to change the Constitution “which they won with blood”.
“This will never happen as long as I am politically alive,” said President Milanović and added that he hopes “that this government or the one that comes after the new elections will act in the same way”. (end)