The European Union (EU) does not tolerate behavior that endangers the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), following the proposal of the Government of Republika Srpska (RS) to separate from BiH, the bloc’s spokesman, Peter Stano, said on Friday. .
On Thursday, the RS government said that in the next 30 days it will create an agreement that will be sent to Bosnia’s other entity, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for a “peaceful separation”.
“Unfortunately, it is not the first time we hear such statements. The EU is clear and this has been repeated several times. The EU and all member countries support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, said Stano.
He reiterated that the sovereignty, territorial integrity and constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina must be preserved, warning of “serious consequences” for its violators.
EU leaders decided in March to open membership negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It received the status of a candidate country for EU membership in December 2022.
Earlier on Friday, the United States Embassy in Sarajevo said that the RS Government’s proposal to secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina is dangerous and irresponsible and that such a thing “would not mean independence, but end for Republika Srpska”.
The government of RS made the proposal for “separation” during a meeting held on the eve of the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on Thursday, where the resolution declaring July 11 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims was approved. of the Genocide in Srebrenica.
Some EU member states did not vote to approve the resolution. Hungary voted against, while Greece, Slovakia and Cyprus abstained.
Stano said that the UN vote is an individual matter for each member country, but added that the EU as a bloc is clear that the genocide in Srebrenica cannot be denied.
“We, as the EU, are not a member of the UN. As for the EU, we have a clear position and have regularly repeated it every anniversary. The genocide in Srebrenica cannot be denied, nor can it be relativized”, he added.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague characterized the crime in Srebrenica as genocide in 2007.
Serb forces in this eastern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina killed over 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995.
For the committed genocide, more than 50 people were sentenced to about 700 years in prison.
Among them are the wartime president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, and the commander-in-chief of the then Serbian army, Ratko Mladić.
