BRUSSELS – Putting the integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina into question is not acceptable for the European Union, said EU Spokesperson Peter Stano, during the press conference on Thursday, responding to the questions regarding statements of BiH Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, N1 reported.
Dodik said yesterday that “at least” seven EU member states support the dissolution of BiH. Stano said that this is not true and all EU member states oppose it.
“This is the clear position of all 27 EU member states and we are committed to the sovereignty and integrity of BiH”, underlined Peter Stano.
Dodik has recently also said that the RS will withdraw its previous agreements which led to the creation of the BiH Armed Forces, leave state institutions and ban the activities of the BiH Indirect Taxation Authority and BiH’s state police in the RS as a response to the law banning genocide denial in BiH which the former High Representative in the country imposed in July.
“Steps, efforts, actions, and statements that call into question the integrity of BiH are not acceptable. We call for an end to the use of inflammatory rhetoric and divisive rhetoric, including questioning state institutions. That is not acceptable,” Stano said.
Stano: Unilateral steps by the authorities in Pristina unacceptable
Peter Stano said on Thursday that unilateral steps by the authorities in Pristina are as unacceptable as the violence that jeopardizes stability, adding that the only place to remove tension is in the European Union-mediated dialogue, N1 reported.
Stano said that EU High Representative Josep Borrell wanted to warn that the situation in Kosovo was frail in his Twitter post a day earlier.
Read more: Borrell: The violent incidents in the north of Kosovo need to stop immediately
He said that the EU warned earlier that unilateral action should be avoided to prevent further tension, adding that the problems in northern Kosovo and Serbia-Kosovo relations have to be resolved within the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.
Stano recalled that there are no regulations preventing Pristina from launching operations anywhere but that the practice is to coordinate closely with the international community, inform KFOR and inform people on the other side.
According to him, there is a much wider background to Wednesday’s events and to what is happening between Serbia and Kosovo in their efforts find an acceptable way to normalize relations. He said that the context of what happened in the north of Kosovo is not about corruption and smuggling but the dialogue.