Three Members of Former Yugoslavia’s Last Presidency Prepare Appeal to Save Bosnia

Sarajevo(Photo:PrintScreen YouTube)

Three members of the last presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), Stjepan Mesic of Croatia, Bogic Bogicevic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Vasil Tupurkovski of North Macedonia, are preparing a document called “An Appeal for the Salvation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” suggesting that the civic state was the only solution for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to Croatia’s Nacional weekly, Mesic, Bogicevic and Tupurkovski have advocated a solution for Bosnia completely opposite to the ethnic concepts supported by the governments in Belgrade and Zagreb. As opposed to the policies that in a state divided deeply along ethnic lines strengthen ethnic decision making at the expense of a civic decision making system, the authors of the Appeal are confident that “the civic state is the only solution for Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

The last talks in Neum have failed, and we have realized that something needs to be done. The Dayton-style Bosnia is dysfunctional, which is why we are preparing a strategy as to how to find  a way out of the crisis,” Mesic explained, adding that it’s not the representatives of Croats, Serbs and Bosniacs who are elected to the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but rather a member from each community, who individually do not represent people, but rather the state,” Mesic said.

The Croatian author of the Appeal added that the fact was lost in political arguments, and that a notion that they represented Bosniacs, Serbs and Croats was accepted instead, which “simply said, is not true.”