WELCOMING THE NEW PRESIDENT

B&H and CROATIA

AIM, February 10, 2000

The story goes like this - a group of highly placed Bosnian Croats recently visited the new Croatian Prime Minister, Ivica Racan, wanting to know whether Croatia intends to continue to financially assist Croats in

B&H if they formed a new party - the Croatian SDP of B&H. Allegedly, for

his part, Racan told them that there was not need to form such a party in B&H since it already existed. When he was told it was the Bosniac party,

Racan replied that it would no longer be such if they were to join it.

The B&H Federation has been shaken by, perhaps not so important or decisive, but surely illustrative disputes as to who would be a better Croatian president for Bosnia - Stjepan Mesic or Drazen Budisa. According to some, Mesic was the only good solution - he supports B&H as a sovereign and integral state and the constitutiveness of all citizens on the entire B&H territory. According to others, that could only be Budisa, as Mesic was only good as a short-time solution. Those well-versed said that he would

not know how to make a stand vis-à-vis Parliament and would face many problems which, being short-tempered, he would not be able to tackle. The next elections which, according to the expected constitutional amendments, should be organised in two years, will be also characterised by revanchism and HDZ, more radical than ever, will again come out victorious.

Now, after Mesic's victory, no one is hiding their surprise with the results (56.21 percent to 43.49 percent), since he entered the electoral

race as something of an outsider. "His charm and surgically precise statement obviously helped him a lot" say members of the B&H SDP. In any

case, at the inauguration of the new President of the Republic of Croatia (RH), Bosnia and Herzegovina will be represented by a high-level delegation consisting of two out of three members of the Presidency: Zivko Radisic and Alija Izetbegovic, as well as B&H Foreign Minister Jadranko Prlic. For the time being, it has not been confirmed whether the third member of the B&H Presidency, Ante Jelavic, would come to Zagreb to represent HDZ, although he is expected to come.

The media write about numerous reactions - from the assessment of the respectable International Crisis Group and Office of the High Representative to B&H HDZ. They all have one common feature - they all think that things will be much better. This was immediately followed by a question - will B&H meet this challenge at its elections? For example, the Sarajevo daily "Oslobodjenje" (Liberation) in its front page commentary states that with Mesic's arrival "one more marble gravestone was placed on Tudjman's grave - just to make sure that there would never be another one!" "The voters have recognised a kind of filtered Tudjman in Mesic's opponent, a stiff and dead serious young lion of the Croatian politics Drazen Budisa, known for Croatia's hard-line towards Europe, ambiguous statements on the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and his inappropriate intention to continue to support Herzegovina. He whom serpents have been biting for ten years is afraid of Budisa (paraphrase of a well-know proverb: He that has been bitten by a serpent, is afraid of rope)" wrote the "Oslobodjenje" adding that with Mesic's victory "Croatia has got its second president and B&H an old friend, who is now at the highest position in the fatefully important neighbouring state".

The first man of the Office of High Representative for B&H, Wolfgang Petrich, first sent his personal congratulations to Mesic and then expressed his hope that B&H and the Office will develop good relations with the new Croatian leadership and that it will help a speedier and more efficient implementation of the Dayton Peace Accords. UNHCR expects progress in the return of refugees, OSCE welcomes democratic processes taking place in the Republic of Croatia, while the UN Mission in B&H reminds the newly elected Croatian leadership that during its campaign it gave very positive comments on the future cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, adding that it is now expected to implement them in practice.

James Lyon, Director of the International Crisis Group, estimates that the political changes in Croatia will make Bosnian Croats understand that it

would be better for them to equitably participate in the B&H politics, than to become an insignificant province of the Republic of Croatia: "The victory of the new political option in the Republic of Croatia raises hopes that Croatia will pursue a fair policy towards B&H and treat it as a sovereign, integral and democratic B&H...It seems that the new authorities in the Republic of Croatia want the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats to reintegrate in B&H and work as its citizens and nationals" said Lyon.

Ante Jelavic, as Member of the B&H Presidency, congratulated Mesic on his election for the President of the Republic of Croatia remarking that he expected him to discharge his presidential duties to the benefit of the entire Croatian people and all citizens of the Republic of Croatia, while Alija Izetbegovic expressed his convictions that Mesic's election opens a new page in the relations between R Croatia and B&H for the well-being of citizens of both states. On behalf of the body he is in charge of (true,

only for a short time), Jelavic expressed the readiness for dynamising and promoting relations between Republic of Croatia and B&H "as one of the most important priorities of B&H foreign policy".

HDZ B&H expressed its satisfaction with Mesic's statements that he will support Croats in B&H so that they could preserve their constitutiveness, emphasising that his statement "was more specific and positive than those given during electoral campaign". At the same time, Secretary General of

that Party, Marko Tokic, sent a message that "there is little chance that Croatian interests in B&H and position of B&H Croats would change, bearing in mind the geo-strategic position of Croats in B&H", and added that he was convinced that the Croatian authorities would help Croats in B&H in other ways too. He also said that he didn't believe that the financing of the Croatian component of the Army of the B&H Federation, i.e. HVO, would cease.

Recalling Mesic's "consistent attitude towards B&H, both during conflicts of the B&H Army and HVO, as well as later" the SDA expressed great satisfaction with Mesic's victory: "If Stjepan Mesic's policy towards B&H remains consistent and if he keeps his election promises, we expect relations between these two states to significantly improve", said Adnan

Jahic, the SDA spokesman remarking that a large number of Bosniacs in RH

have obviously opted for Mesic.

President of the opposition Social-Democratic Party, Zlatko Lagumdzija estimated that Mesic's victory "means the victory of those citizens of Croatia who, for the second time this year, have opted for a new, democratic and European Croatia", while Liberal Rasim Kadic was of the opinion that Mesic's victory meant progress for RH, as well as for B&H: "This is an impressive message for Croats in B&H, but also for B&H as a state. Croatia has started towards democratic Europe and it is time for B&H to wake up".

Reminding that his party encouraged its membership to vote for Drazen Budisa, President of the New Croatian Initiative Kresimir Zubak, once a HDZ member himself and Member of the B&H Presidency, said that he was not disappointed by Mesic's results: "Two of them are different personalities, but their attitudes towards B&H are very close. I believe that, after change in the authorities, the RH policy towards B&H will be balanced, transparent and clear, and that the new authorities of the Republic of Croatia will treat B&H as a sovereign and integral state, and not as HDZ

favoured relations with the B&H Federation. I think that it is very important that a policy which supports the idea of constitutiveness of Croats in the entire territory of B&H has won in the Republic of Croatia", said Zubak.

The Croatian Peasants' Party for B&H (HSS for B&H) stated that it was encouraged by Mesic's victory in RH since his policy was fully in line with the stands of HSS for B&H when relations between two neighbouring countries were concerned. This party is of the opinion that a person with such political experience as Mesic will have strong influence on the events in the entire region, and not only in RH and B&H. For the Croatian National

Community Mesic's victory was brilliant.

Rubina CENGIC

(AIM Sarajevo)