News in English     | 12.11.2019. 16:05 |

Komšić: I told Macron that his claims about BiH were incorrect

FENA Vernera Jakupović

 

SARAJEVO, November 12 (FENA) - BiH Presidency Chairman Željko Komšić arrived in Paris for the Second Peace Forum where he met French President Emmanuel Macron last night at a reception at Champs-Elysées and told him that his statements on Bosnia and Herzegovina as a “ticking-time bomb” due to the danger of returnees from foreign battlefields do not correspond to the actual situation and it has caused an uproar in BiH.

Komšić told Macron that this information is incorrect, adding that the French Ambassador in Sarajevo has precise information "that we have provided, and we have also sent, through our embassy, directly to President Macron's Office." According to Komšić, Macron agreed that this should be discussed separately, so there is a possibility that the dialogue between the two will take place in the continuation of the forum today.

Asked what else BiH can do regarding this issue of the alleged threat of terrorism that occurs occasionally even on the international scene, Komšić replied that, unfortunately, it was first brought out by officials of a friendly neighboring state, primarily from the President of the Republic of Croatia.

“I do not know if it is wise to assume in this case, but my assumption is that Zagreb officials may use this in bilateral meetings with other heads of state, prime ministers, etc. It is a notorious falsehood; we have precise data that we did not collect on our own, but in cooperation with friendly countries, partner countries, in cooperation with the security services not only in BiH and the region, but also much more widely. It is well known that terrorism is a huge problem and how much interest it has in cooperating to prevent terrorist attacks. According to partner countries and services, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very reliable associate and our services are doing very well in this regard. Of course, this is not the right place to discover some operational things, but we can talk about the facts: just under 300 BiH citizens were on the battlefield in Syria and, as far as I know, 98 were killed. Of these 300, in fact, almost half are women and children. So when it comes to the possibility of a real danger, I must say that, as far as Bosnia and Herzegovina is concerned, it is not a threat to anyone because these things are under control. BiH has tightened its legislation and serving in foreign armed formations is a criminal offense. So far, 24 cases have been prosecuted and there are still pending cases. So we're not leaving things here to chance. In many other developed countries, there is a higher risk of such a thing than in BiH,” Komšić said for Al Jazeera Balkans.

Asked how much the relations between the two countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, are affected by the fact that Croatian leadership refuses to meet and talk specifically with him, the BiH Presidency Chairman replies that this certainly has an impact on bilateral relations.

“But this is the moment we live in and I hope we will overcome this situation, that, if nothing else, communications at the level of heads of state will be reduced to a normal framework, as with other neighbors. I had the opportunity to meet with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović during the UN General Assembly, and we discussed many topics,” said Komšić.

According to him, the other party did not want to publish this interview because it was assessed that everything in Croatia could be interpreted in a different way, however harmless it is, and adversely affected the election campaign.

“Unfortunately, BiH and Croatia have reached such a stage of relations that any move can be sensitive and misinterpreted, giving rise to some new political dispute,” said Komšić.

When it comes to ‘Mini-Schengen’ initiative he said that Bosnia and Herzegovina is interested in the idea of ​​any cooperation, especially if it means free movement of people, but also that it is necessary to define exactly what they mean here.

“So, when it comes to free movement of people, we absolutely support it and we are particularly interested in the idea of ​​free movement of people, including goods, leading primarily to the bad experience with Kosovo introducing 100% taxes on goods from BiH and Serbia, we are interested in resolving this too. After all, BiH has bilateral agreements with almost all countries in the region, except Kosovo, which allow crossing the border with an ID card. So, as far as we are concerned, it is now possible to integrate it into a multilateral agreement that would necessarily include Kosovo, because without Kosovo, it would not make sense and then allow complete freedom of movement for people only with an ID card.

(FENA) A. B.

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