At the beginning of the meeting, Picula said that the Office of the High Representative has a demanding role, and its decisions will have significant implications for Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country in the future.
"I want to express my support for your decision from October on the amendments to the Election Law of BiH and the Constitution of FBiH, which was adopted at the right time and fully aligned with your powers and the Constitutional provisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It abolished some dysfunctionalities that arose before your mandate, which made already challenging situations even more complicated. However, the development of events shows that your actions were correct. The government was formed quickly and constructively, with a pro-European declaration as part of the agreement. However, it remains to be seen whether and to what extent this declaration will be respected," he said.
Picula pointed out that the EU strongly supported Bosnia and Herzegovina's European perspective through its candidacy for membership, but at the same time obliged BiH politicians to work much more seriously on the necessary reforms for the benefit of the citizens, and not for their own benefit.
"I hope that your decision to reform the electoral process is the beginning of a process that will eventually lead to the reform of the Dayton Agreement, which, despite the initial positive intentions, has long since shown numerous shortcomings in practice. We should accept the fact that the Dayton Agreement successfully stopped the war, but did not provide mechanisms for the establishment of a long-term stable democracy based on balanced interests," said Picula.
"When it comes to the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we can see the competition of different visions from the international community", concluded Picula at the Foreign Affairs Committee and asked High Representative Christian Schmidt about the plan to overcome the long-standing blockade.
Picula pointed out that the EU should strengthen its interventions and sanctions against the demolishers of Bosnia and Herzegovina from within and from the outside. "It is obvious that Milorad Dodik is a proxy player for Belgrade, Moscow and Budapest. However, in order to prevent the penetration and survival of authoritarian regimes in the European area, including the Western Balkans, it is necessary to remove the generators of instability and create an atmosphere in which the candidate countries can really implement the necessary reforms".
Christan Schmidt also warned about the big problem of young people leaving the country. "Without renewed confidence in state institutions, the population outflow will only intensify and worsen development chances. The common interest must stop this process", the high representative pointed out.
