Sejdic and Finci Vs. Sejdic-Finci

Absurdity reached a new level in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the October 1 high level meeting in Brussels. What was supposed to be the absolute last, final, decisive and ultimate chance for BiH leaders to agree on a set of conditions for continuation of EU accession process became yet another postponement accompanied with feeble statements and dubious half-solutions.

Representatives of multi-ethnic, minority and civic options in BiH, including both Dervo Sejdic and Jakob Finci condemned the seven-point agreement on principles of the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci ruling. Then over the weekend this criticism developed into an open media war between few leading civic activists and EUSR office in BiH.

Only few years ago the “civic option” were pampered darlings of coordinated EU and USA efforts aimed at restoring Bosnia’s multi-ethnic and civic (if possible Social Democratic) culture. So what happened in these few years and what happened in Brussels on October 1 to set former allies so far apart and against each other?

The “civic option” carries its own part of responsibility for this situation for it has for too long ignored the reality of BiH as an ethnically, nationally and politically divided society, insisted on its high moral and ideological grounds and nurtured confrontational and hard-line politics that sometimes equaled or bested those of national parties. After SDP squandered multiethnic and civic principles for a pocketful of mumbles such as positions in governments, institutions and agencies, the disgruntled civic option struggled to find a new civic champion to idolize and support instead of learning a valuable lesson – that poor execution can spoil even the best of ideas.

National parties reveled in the demise of the “civic option” because that option was always perceived as the only real threat for all of them. Yet its is questionable whether with all the bad blood and mistrust within and among those parties they can restore their cooperation sufficiently to be able to kick start the governance which has stalled and caved in on almost all levels, and bring the country back from the edge of abyss. Another question is whether there is capacity or even willingness for such a rebound since some parties, namely SNSD and to a certain degree HDZ, openly work to dismantle governance on the state level and in BiH Federation. SDA seems convinced that it will be able to fix all problems once it gets its mojo back, unaware or ignorant of the fact that BiH is psychologically, economically and socially so exhausted so that it finds itself on the edge of becoming a failed state, or something much worse. Not to mention that SDA itself contributed to this situation by focusing on employment (if not enrichment) of its cadre as much – if not more – as on the development of state, entity, cantonal and municipal institutions in which it was in power for at least 14 out of last 17 years.  

As for the EU, the latest Brussels meeting showed that BiH’s endless political tug-of-war has tired and disgusted EU technocrats to the point where they become ready to ignore the substance and welcome whatever possible form of the Sejdic-Finci reform they think they can squeeze out of BiH leaders. By accepting the latest principle agreement in Brussels, the EU has directly endorsed political positions of Croat and Serb national parties, indirectly renounced BiH’s existing constitutional framework and gave carte blanche to possible future constitutional arrangements which will be as incompatible with the most basic European principles and values as the existing Constitutional arrangement. In addition, by postponing its deadlines, softening its threats and choosing pragmatic over good solutions once again, the EU has, once again, missed an opportunity to establish itself as a political player rather than a pragmatic, technocratic cash-cow. 

With all this said, it is still unlikely that October 10 meeting will produce an implementable solution for Sejdic-Finci. Namely, agreed principles still leave several major issues unresolved, such as detailed division of electoral units in the BiH Federation. Even if such option is principally agreed at the next Brussels meeting, it is still highly dubious that sufficient number of delegates in the BiH parliament would accept and adopt such proposal by the end of the year. In other words, even a principle agreement on October 10 would not necessarily mean that such solution for Sejdic-Finci would pass through the BiH Parliament by the end of the year.

But BiH leaders remain far apart on yet another, maybe even more important issue – a new coordinating mechanism for EU projects – which will have more immediate and much bigger effect on everyday lives of BiH people. Without agreement on the new coordinating mechanism, Bosnia will in the next few weeks lose over 50 million Euros of IPA pre-accession funds, which would be redirected to other Balkan countries or regional projects. In addition, EU would probably suspend preparations of their IPA2 package which was planned to support important BiH projects worth hundreds of millions of Euros in the next several years. This means that even if by some miracle Sejdic-Finci is agreed by the end of the year and Bosnia’s Stabilization and Association (SAA) Agreement is activated, the EU would have little or no resources to implement it properly. The main problem with IPA funds is that at least some BiH leaders misunderstand their true purpose; to build local capacity to enable BiH to apply for bigger projects and capital investments in years to come. As IPA funds are used to pay for – among other things – EU consultants, experts and knowhow, BiH leaders remain uninterested while focused more on IMF and EC budget support, which goes into their own salaries.

Finally, educated by the example of Croatia’s former Premier Ivo Senader, at least some BiH politicians realize that EU membership requires hard work but brings only hardship for all those who have skeletons in their closets. With that in mind, most of BiH leaders seem to have decided to keep paying a lip service to EU accession process while doing their best to prevent and block it. Apparently oblivious to such attitudes, the EU and the rest of the international community seem determined to keep lowering the bars and searching for more pragmatic solutions – sinking deeper and deeper into BiH’s political quagmire. 


Author: Srećko Latal