It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the reception in honor of the Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Sixty-seven years ago, on November 25, 1943 in Mrkonjic Grad, the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina was confirmed at the First Assembly of the Anti-fascist Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ZAVNOBiH).  Four days later, on November 29, in Jajce, at the Second Assembly of the Anti-fascist Council of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the will of its political representatives, entered the former Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia (FNRJ) as one of its six federal units.

The importance of this date was especially confirmed in the struggle against the aggression between 1992 and 1995.  ZAVNOBIH confirmed the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina in its medieval borders, which are among the oldest boundaries in Europe.  As a result, today’s generation owes a great debt to our predecessors who, during World War II, preserved the integrity of the medieval Bosnian state in their heroic and just struggle against fascism.  Through their resistance and bravery, the patriots of our country stayed on top of this honorable tradition, and were able to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.   

These historical facts are undisputable because ZAVNOBiH is the deed and legacy of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which fully confirmed the historical and political individuality of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a multireligious, multiethnic, and multicultural state of the Bosniaks, Serbs, Croats and others. 

I am sadened that with us tonight are not all of the represetantives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is those who do not recognize this holiday because they believe that the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state begins in Dayton.  The Dayton Agreement ended the war and confirmed the already existing statehood and independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the first Article of that Agreement clearly states that Bosnia and Herzegovina shall continue its legal existence under international law as a state.“  Anex II of that Agreement emphasizes that „[a]ll laws…in effect within the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina when the Constitution enters into force shall remain in effect…until otherwise determined by a competent governmental body of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”  As a result, Bosnia and Herzegovina does have the Law on state holidays back from its republic days, and November 25 is the BiH Statehood day under that Law. 

I hope that over time all representatives of this country will recognize these undisputable historical facts, including this date as the Statehood day of our common country.  The representatives of the Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats and other citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina behaved in such a manner, united in the anti-fascist movement, through their adoption of a political decision that paved the way to organize their country according to their will and interests based on the results of the armed struggle of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

After forty-seven years of peace on the basis of that struggle, Bosnia and Herzegovina faced an attack by a new wave of facism and extreme nationalism, that had as its goal not only the destruction of the Bosnia and Herzegovina statehood, but of an entire people as well.  Milosevic's Serbia, together with the political representatives and the military, paramilitary, and police forces of the then self-proclaimed Republika Srpska, attacked with all available might the Bosnian cities and tows, holding the capital Sarajevo under siege for 1,300 days, which is the longest siege of a city in modern military history.  Forcible removal of population, killings of civilians and concentration camp were orchestrated.  The entire organized campaign ended with the most gruesome crime of all – the crime of genocide.

Despite the overwhelming advantage of the aggressor, the patriots of this country of all nationalities rose to the defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, unarmed, but ready to defend their homeland and its people.  From the very start, this was an uneven struggle, because the aggressor had every weapon available, while the defenders were forced to smuggle even the basic military equipment due to the international arms embargo. 

Under these circumstances, the best sons of this country died defending it.  This is an oportunity to remember them with the feeling of indebtness and gratitude.  We owe our thanks to them because facism did not prevail, because nationalism and one-mindedness do not prevail in Bosnia and Herzegovina of today, and because we can still argue for an exit out of the political crisis for the life of all our people in a stable, democratic, functional and economically developed coutry.  To them we also owe the preservation of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the peace that all of them fought for, so that the future of their loved ones will be brigter from the recent past.

We have much to do in all these fields.  In the last twelve years, some strides were made in the fields of monetary and tax policy, as well as defense policy and some other fields, but all this is not sufficient to allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to be a functional state and to undertake all necessary reforms for the entry into the European Union.  Today there is almost no relevant political option within Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the representatives of the international community, that does not believe that the Dayton Constitution must be changed.  This period is ahead of us, but in the meantime we must do all in our power to ensure that the Dayton Constitution, as long as it is in force, is fully implemented. The Dayton Constitution, as any other constitutuion, is respected through its full implementation, and not through empty and politically motivated declarations. 

On this road, Bosnia and Herzegovina direly needs the help of the international community.  With this in mind, the continuation of the OHR mission and the foreign troop presence is necessary, and we especially welcome the today's decision on the extension of the mandate of the EU Police mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  In addition to the active presence and participation of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the people of this country must receive motivation from Brussels.  Instated of a strong support of the European Union at the time of a political crisis, Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered a disappointment due to the European Commission's decision to allow Serbia to initial the SAA, while postponing a similar move with respect to Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

While Bosnia and Herzegovina completely respects the right of the European Commission to independently decide whether to continue the talks with another State, it is critical to note that Bosnia and Herzegovina has a legitimate stake and interest in this matter.  On February 26 this year, in a dispute between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the International Court of Justice found Serbia responsible for violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) on three counts, holding that Serbia has violated the Convention by, inter alia, failing to prevent genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina and for failing to arrest and transfer to the ICTY the persons accused of the crime of genocide. With respect to the ordered measures, the Court ruled that Serbia must immediately arrest and transfer to the ICTY the individuals in question. Needless to say, Serbia has ignored the Court’s order, thereby continuing to violate its international obligations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina under the Genocide Convention. 

Considering these international obligations, and in light of the previous unequivocal European Commission’s pronouncements, we can only understand the Commission’s decision as having been influenced by the impending resolution of the Kosovo status.  Such strategy, however, does not promise results, as history has demonstrated that an appeasement of the nationalist forces in Serbia in one field has never occasioned a positive resolution of another matter. More importantly, the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are distressed over the fact that the Commission has effectively embraced a country that continues to violate the most important international obligations toward another prospective member State. Equaling of the blame for the failure of police reform could have been at one point understood as a temporary political need, but time has demonstrated that such strategy brings no results either.  The time has come to finally call things by their true name. 

The European Commission has refused to proceed with the initialing of the SAA with Bosnia and Herzegovina due to the fact that the police reform has not yet been carried out by Bosnia and Herzegovina. For years, we have witnessed the obstruction of all attempts to usher in police reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, starting with the Martens plan, and continuing with the plan of the Police Reform Directorate.  All of these plans were put forward by the European Union institutions and all of them have been rejected by the leadership of the Republika Srpska entity. While it was clear from the start that Serbia played an important role in encouraging such obstruction, the recent pronouncements by both the President and the Prime Minister of Serbia have offered solid proof of this fact. 

I, hence, avail myself of this opportunity to clearly state that this is not 1992, that this time the radical forces in Belgrade are not able to transform their wishes into actual deeds, and that it is high time that Serbia turns to solving its own problems, but also to the fulfillment of a number of international obligations that it still has towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Considering, however, that Belgrade has already managed to create a certain level of political crisis, there is a danger of individual excesses, which is proven by the recent armed attack near Banja Luka on Mr. Murat Tahirovic.  The international community, hence, is aware that it needs to double its efforts in order to prevent the continued importation of this manufactured political crisis into Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to especially protect the returnee population in the RS entity.  Such an engagement is the only way to ensure the full stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its progress toward Euro-Atlantic integrations.

There are indications that the international community is aware of this obligation and responsibility, and I therefore view the meeting of the presidents of political parties in two days in Sarajevo with optimism.  I believe that the Mostar Declaration opens the possibilities for the return of the country onto the European path, and that we must continue to work on this.  We need to continue the dialogue, with the goal of overcoming this manufactured political crises in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the final goal of a democratic, functional and modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, a member of the EU and NATO, and based on the strong legacy of the anti-fascist struggle of all its peoples and citizens.

Once again, I wish you a sincere welcome, and I thank you for honoring the Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina by your presence here. 

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