Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-03-14-Speech-3-214"
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"en.20070314.18.3-214"2
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".
Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner Rehn, none of us have forgotten the failed constitutional reform last year, the strident and often nationalistic election slogans, the result that emerged from those elections, or the plan to close down the office of the High Representative, all of which prompted us, in December of last year, to put together a report on Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I would remind the House that Bosnia-Herzegovina is surrounded by the EU, and that its fate is closely tied up with our own and with that of its neighbours; it is for that reason that our policy in respect of this country and its neighbours must be central to our endeavours. The prospect of EU membership is the incentive for the people there to delay no longer in taking many difficult decisions.
I would like to conclude my speech with a few words addressed to all those in positions of responsibility in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reminding them that our educational programmes are now open to young Bosnians, and that their government must now, therefore, do everything possible to get the necessary administration organised, with a national agency to manage the programmes, for the sooner that is set up, the sooner their young people will be able to participate in ERASMUS, LEONARDO and COMENIUS.
We are all very keen that Bosnia and Herzegovina should, over the next couple of months, get their hands on the tiller, in other words, should set to work on the reforms that they need. I want to thank my colleagues for their support.
Since the beginning of this year, though, a number of things have changed more rapidly than we had dared hope, for there is a functioning government for the whole country, its parliament has got down to work; the EU has decided to reduce the number of EUFOR troops; the issue of what is to become of the High Representative and of the ‘Bonn powers’ is again being discussed; and it is to be hoped that a way will soon be found to implement police reform, to which the Republika Srpska was, until very recently, resistant. We are therefore putting all recriminations to one side and joining with the country’s rational elements in looking forward to improvements and to political breakthroughs.
The stridency of the election campaign and the threats of a referendum have faded away, and it is evident that they meant something other than what we thought they did.
In our report, we try to be specific about what the problems actually are, and one of them is the fact that constitutional revision – which is indispensable as a means of reinforcing the powers of the State – is long overdue. The prevailing zero-sum mentality according to which ‘what is good for others is bad for me’ is intolerable, and will never make achievement of a common policy possible.
That the Dayton constitution is an impracticable monster is not the fault of the politicians, but of those others who, after the war, divided Bosnia-Herzegovina into two entities, seeing that as the only way to find peace. Today, though, that division is justified only if both parts are really able to support the state as a whole and do not hamper its functioning, and so what I want to say is that constitutional reform is indispensable if Bosnia and Herzegovina are to find their way into the EU.
It is also clear, though, that this constitutional reform is not a job for us or for some other so-called ‘internationals’, but a responsibility that the elected politicians of all three nationalities must shoulder. While the Venice Commission, or American or Canadian experts, can give help, it is the parliament – and on this the newly elected prime minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina agrees – that must be the platform on which this happens. The agenda of the constitutional reform process must set out definite steps and goals. There is also a blatant discrepancy between the functionality of Republika Srpska, which is one of the entities, and that of the other, the Federation, and this must be remedied in the interests of the State as a whole.
This House takes a great deal of interest in the development of Bosnia-Herzegovina; we want it to become a properly functioning integral state, able to look after its own citizens and creating the legal and economic framework conditions on which its young people, in particular, rely as the only foundation on which they – and, I might add, those expellees who are willing to return – can build a future for themselves.
I appeal in strong terms to the Republika Srpska to join with the Croatian Government in seeking viable ways of facilitating the return of its former inhabitants to Posavina, in the north of Bosnia, which is still uninhabited and ravaged by war.
The report does not address the current tensions in Srebrenica, and I should like to do so now; it is to be hoped, though, that the end result of them will not be efforts at secession, and I appeal to all to seek ways of reconciliation in order to secure coexistence without hatred, not least for the younger generation, for separation and isolation help nobody. Successful reconciliation is also, however, dependent on the extradition of the war criminal Radovan Karadzic to the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, and this has not yet been done. It is past high time that this chapter was closed, and I have to say that I had hoped that ESFOR, and later EUFOR, would have played a really major part in this – more so, in fact, than they have actually done."@en1
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