Former Croatian president Stjepan Mesic is to advocate a new international conference on Bosnia, so that the country can become a 'citizens's state divided into several multi-ethnic cantons'.
The former Croatian President on Friday is to propose a new Dayton-style agreement on Bosnia in Mostar, where he is due to deliver a speech.
Mesic's proposal involves Croatia initiating the main changes to the 1995 Dayton Ohio deal, which ended Bosnia's 1992-5 war.
The preconception has to be broken, he intends to say, that the Dayton agreeement is untouchable, that ethnic units are necessary, and that what matters is ethnic equality as opposed to citizens' rights.
He will argue that Bosnia should be transformed into "a state of citizens divided into several multiethnic cantons, with a central government and with equality for the three constituent nations, without excluding others".
Mesic will propose that the international community's High Representative to Bosnia should be invested with increased powers once again.
After a year, a new international conference, called "Dayton 2", should be held under United Nations auspices.
Mesic believes that Bosnia's state-level presidency should represent Bosnia at the conference, not representatives of the two entities, or of the constituent nations, "and the least of all the political parties".
After a new territorial and constitutional framework is adopted at the conference, a year would pass before a referendum was held on it, and general elections.
During the following five years, international community representatives would withdraw from Bosnia. At the same time, the country would negotiate with the EU.
Three former High Representatives to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, Wolfgang Petritsch and Christian Schwarz-Schilling, have read and praised Mesic's proposal, Mesic's office said.
Ashdown called the proposal "extraordinary and extremely important". Schwartz-Schilling said he "thinks the same as Mr Mesic does, regarding the dangerous situation in BiH".
Petritsch agreed that it would be good for "the regional signatories of Dayton, together with the US and the EU, gather at the round table and reach an agreement on the principles for a new conference".
Mesic's initiative does not represent the official Croatian attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Croatian President emphasised.
Mesic's call for a new Dayton deal comes at a time when many Bosnian Croats are demanding a third entity of their own in Bosnia, alongside the mainly Bosniak Federation and the mainly Serbian Republika Srpska.
Meanwhile, Bosnian Serbs continue to talk of secession and of the eventual complete independence of the Republika Srpska.The former Croatian President on Friday is to propose a new Dayton-style agreement on Bosnia in Mostar, where he is due to deliver a speech.
Mesic's proposal involves Croatia initiating the main changes to the 1995 Dayton Ohio deal, which ended Bosnia's 1992-5 war.
The preconception has to be broken, he intends to say, that the Dayton agreeement is untouchable, that ethnic units are necessary, and that what matters is ethnic equality as opposed to citizens' rights.
He will argue that Bosnia should be transformed into "a state of citizens divided into several multiethnic cantons, with a central government and with equality for the three constituent nations, without excluding others".
Mesic will propose that the international community's High Representative to Bosnia should be invested with increased powers once again.
After a year, a new international conference, called "Dayton 2", should be held under United Nations auspices.
Mesic believes that Bosnia's state-level presidency should represent Bosnia at the conference, not representatives of the two entities, or of the constituent nations, "and the least of all the political parties".
After a new territorial and constitutional framework is adopted at the conference, a year would pass before a referendum was held on it, and general elections.
During the following five years, international community representatives would withdraw from Bosnia. At the same time, the country would negotiate with the EU.
Three former High Representatives to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, Wolfgang Petritsch and Christian Schwarz-Schilling, have read and praised Mesic's proposal, Mesic's office said.
Ashdown called the proposal "extraordinary and extremely important". Schwartz-Schilling said he "thinks the same as Mr Mesic does, regarding the dangerous situation in BiH".
Petritsch agreed that it would be good for "the regional signatories of Dayton, together with the US and the EU, gather at the round table and reach an agreement on the principles for a new conference".
Mesic's initiative does not represent the official Croatian attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Croatian President emphasised.
Mesic's call for a new Dayton deal comes at a time when many Bosnian Croats are demanding a third entity of their own in Bosnia, alongside the mainly Bosniak Federation and the mainly Serbian Republika Srpska.
Meanwhile, Bosnian Serbs continue to talk of secession and of the eventual complete independence of the Republika Srpska.
Autor: Boris Pavelic
Source/Fuente: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/mesic-to-propose-dayton-two
