Envoy threatens to sack Bosnian leaders

Miroslav Lajcák, the international community’s high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has given the strongest indication yet that he might sack Bosnian leaders if they continue to oppose police reform.

Lajcák, who also serves as the EU’s special representative in the country, made his comments ahead of a 30 September deadline for Bosnia’s parties to sign up to a police reform plan, a precondition for signing a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU.

When asked on Monday (24 September) whether he would dismiss Milorad Dodik, the prime minister of the Republika Srpska, and Haris Silajdžic´, the Bosnian Muslim representative on the country’s three-member presidency, Lajcák replied that rejection of the police reform must have "serious consequences".

Under the so-called Bonn powers, the high representative has the authority to sack public officials. The simultaneous dismissal of Dodik and Silajdžic´, Bosnia’s most popular politicians who hold diametrically opposed views on the future of the country, would be among the most dramatic use of these powers yet. The main Bosnian Serb daily reported that Bosnian Serb ministers in the central government would withdraw from their posts if Dodik were removed, triggering a constitutional crisis.

At the heart of the dispute is the Bosnian Serbs’ refusal to give up their separate police force. Bosnian Muslim leaders accuse Lajcák’s office of watering down the EU principles on policing in order to make them more palatable to the Bosnian Serbs and reject the current plan as not going far enough.

Without agreement on police reform, Bosnia will not be able to sign the SAA, a pre-accession deal, with the EU. At the same time, the EU has made it clear that it does not want such critical reforms to be imposed by the high representative, as has happened in the past.

Diagnosing a "worsening" political situation, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told Bosnia’s press on Wednesday (26 September) that "the inevitable consequence of such a scenario is self-isolation as the rest of the region continues towards integration with the EU".

Miroslav Lajcák, the international community’s high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, has given the strongest indication yet that he might sack Bosnian leaders if they continue to oppose police reform.