Germany Will No Longer Direct Funds to RS

Heiko Maass (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stated on Nov. 11 that his country would no longer direct funds to Republika Srpska (RS), which, in his words, is actively working on the destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state.

"It is very clear, we cannot and will not direct the money of German taxpayers to an entity that is actively working on the destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state. And we will also think about individual measures against those who bring the territorial integrity of the country into question," Maas said in an interview with Sarajevo-based website Klix.

He added that Germany was "very closely harmonizing with its partners, within the EU as well as with the Americans and the British," about possible sanctions against certain Bosnian politicians. "We will not sit idly by and watch this irresponsible policy continue, because that policy does not damage just the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also degrades all the progress accomplished on the basis of the Dayton peace accords over a long number of years, with huge support from the international community, the EU and Germany," the German foreign minister said.

Describing the current events in Bosnia as the worst political crisis since the end of the war in 1995, and saying  that there had been mention of a new conflict in that country, Maas stressed that "the primary reason for that is the dangerous and irresponsible secessionist policy of the government of Republika Srpska."