In the meantime, however, Dodik and Covic seem oblivious to that perspective, and their joint political stance – paired with the narrow-minded politics of the Bosniaks – again threatens Bosnia’s territorial and constitutional integrity.
The depth of the crisis is reflected not only in Dodik’s latest public statements but also in the conclusions of the special session of the RS Assembly held on February 17.
In his opening remarks to the National Assembly, Dodik started with words “Goodbye Bosnia and Herzegovina, welcome RSexit.”
But during the session he was forced to tone down his initially proposed conclusions, as many MPs found claimed they were too radical and potentially dangerous for RS.
According to the final conclusions, which were adopted after almost eight hours of heated debates, RS officials and institutions will not participate in the decision-making process in state institutions until new election legislation and a law on the Constitutional Court are adopted.
Additionally, RS officials are not to implement “undemocratic and anti-Dayton” decisions made by the Constitutional Court and the Office of the High Representative, OHR.
Undermining the authority of the Constitutional Court and OHR represent a major challenge to Bosnia’s Dayton agreement. Yet Bosnian Serb officials say worse is still to come.
Dodik plans to give Bosniak parties a maximum of two months to agree to draft laws on the election process and the Constitutional Court, which SNSD and HDZ will propose in the next few days. Since a compromise is highly unlikely, he then plans to launch a procedure to repatriate to the RS a number of competencies that in the past were transferred from the two entities to the state level.
Dodik would then also hold a referendum on secession of RS by the end of the year, most likely around the time of October elections, Bosnian Serb sources say.
Ahead of elections in 2016, Dodik also called a referendum, at that time asking RS citizens to vote on whether the continue marking their ‘statehood day’, which was banned by the Constitutional Court who claimed the holiday was discriminatory towards non-Serbs in the entity. The court as well as local and institutional officials condemned the vote.
These moves would push Bosnia towards a breakup, which would certainly lead to a new ethnic conflict that could easily spread across an unstable region.
As Dodik has used separatist threats to win elections for the last 14 years, many question or even mock his recent words. Nevertheless, several of Dodik’s closest associates, as well as some of his foes, say he is getting closer to eventually making this move.
“Step by step, the whole region is fraught with conflicts, which ultimately remains a key argument for European politicians who oppose enlargement to deny Western Balkan countries full EU membership,” Tadic noted in his interview for Danas.
Crisis further exposes Europe’s divisions:
“The last eight years have seen the erosion of all the positive things that have been done in the area of stabilisation of regional tensions and once again there are threats of the disintegration of existing states and covert rattling of arms,” he said, adding that these and other crises in the Balkans were the consequences of the “catastrophic mistakes” made by the EU and the international community.
The crisis has indeed laid bare the growing divisions in the EU. Several Western officials have complained that the ambassadors of EU countries in Bosnia have been unable to agree even over a joint press statement about the crisis, let alone over concrete actions that would resolve it.
Tensions have also seemed to grow between the new EU Commissioners for Foreign Affairs and Enlargement, Josep Borrell and Oliver Varhelyi.
In another move that would likely make the situation only worse, when EU leaders called a meeting of all top Balkan leaders in Brussels on Sunday, February 16, from Bosnia, they invited only Zeljko Komsic, the current chairman of the state presidency and a Bosnian Croat whose legitimacy is questioned by most Bosnian Croats, rather than all three members of the presidency.
Dodik dismissed this meeting. “He is going there privately, to express his private views,” Dodik told the media about Komsic.
“This is a hoax and this is what the international community does,” he concluded.
Srecko Latal is a journalist, editor and analyst who has been covering the Balkans since the 1990s.
The opinions expressed in the Comment section are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
