 Good morning everyone welcome to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. My name is Heather Conley I'm senior fellow and director of the Europe program as I was entering this room I thought this feels like a family reunion my goodness my goodness And I think the foreign minister was seeing many many friends and acquaintances that he hasn't seen for a while So we welcome you again I have to say two days before the Thanksgiving holiday and on a rainy day You are a hearty lot and we thank you very very much for joining us We are extremely grateful to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund because it's due to their generosity this morning that we can gather here today to talk about two very critical international issues that Unfortunately are not getting perhaps the attention and the focus due to a lot of Economic noise shall we say emanating from Europe from the United States from the global economy But this conference and today's release of a report co-authored by my colleague Janusz Bugajski Senior associate here at the CSIS and of the Europe program We're releasing a new report and if there's one thing I want to leave with you today After we're done with our conversation is the phrase time for change This is certainly the approach that Janusz and I took to the report It was going to be a very brief policy memo It turned into a little longer than we had anticipated But we felt it was absolutely vital to to give a recap of where the transatlantic community has gone Particularly in Bosnia over the last 16 years since yesterday's 16th anniversary The original signing of the Dayton Peace Accords So where did we go in the last 16 years? But most importantly where are we heading in the next 16 years and we hope that this Conversation will be an examination of a time for change and a change in transatlantic policy and approach Not only is it a time for change. It is a time for questioning Assumptions and today as we watch the stock market go up and down and up and down We know that we have to test some assumptions about the future of the European Union integration project if the ongoing financial crisis It cannot Allow the EU to deepen and widen as US policy towards this region assumes It is also time for questioning the future US role in the region and to see what what the United States will continue To pursue in the years to come so we hope as you listen to today's conference And we hope before you leave if you haven't already done so to take a copy of our report we want to demonstrate that there are differences of approach between the United States and Europe towards the Serbia and Kosovo as well as Bosnia We want to instill in policymakers a deep desire for change that the status quo is no longer a viable Approach and certainly your presence today in the room does exactly what we wanted to accomplish Which was raise the awareness in Washington that this region has some unfinished business And we need to galvanize our policymakers to renew their focus and their interest and With this lead off I can think of no one better to begin our discussion than the foreign ministers then I'll Call I and a man who needs no introduction to this room But as the current foreign minister of Bosnia, Herzegovina Minister I'll call I you have been a Long-serving ambassador here in Washington from 1994 to 2000 That's why you have so many friends in this room But has also served from 2004 to 2007 as the ambassador to the kingdom of Belgium and the head of the mission to NATO So steeped you are the transatlantic approach my friend and we look forward to your comments Please join me in welcoming foreign minister Sven Akalai Excellencies ladies and gentlemen Dear friends as had mentioned there really so many good friends. We worked on the Bosnia issue for a long time since First my arrival in Washington and the end of 93 So I've been in this business for a long long time if I get the benefited stars for this it might help So It's it's like a homecoming to this forum to see CSIS was always excellent forum for the issues on Bosnia Herzegovina when you work closely with Janusz and the other friends also with the big Reginski who was very Instrumental in many many of the policies which were created. So we always Think of best of this institute as one of the leading institutes in Washington policymakers and those who are Creating and influencing Policies of the United States and not only in the United States a world worldwide. So I'm really honored and Please that I got an invitation header. Thank you once again for Also your kind introduction Today during my tenure as you mentioned in as ambassador in Bosnia Herzegovina Washington DC I address this forum in a number in number of occasion and During all my years in Washington. I had the privilege to be the first Ambassador of Bosnia Herzegovina to and to participate in the negotiation in Washington agreement then That means creation of federation of Bosnia Herzegovina and the date and peace talks and many other Developments that are important and crucial for Bosnia Herzegovina So ladies and gentlemen yesterday as I mentioned we marked 16th anniversary of date and peace accords Which ended the war and created a constitutional and political framework for the state of Bosnia Herzegovina But interestingly enough the date was not celebrated in the Hall of Bosnia Herzegovina in Republic of Serbska It is a it was national holiday Celebrating what some call getting an autonomous state within Bosnia Herzegovina and looking back on those 16 years Since the Dayton piece accords. What can we say? There has been progress and achievements in a number of areas I will mention just a few of the achievements in Bosnia Herzegovina on the path to EU Signing those stabilization and association agreement with EU Which was signed in June 2008 and all the countries member states of EU have ratified it Citizens of Bosnia Herzegovina got the travel visa free into Schengen states and we get the status That our visas to get into United States are valid for 10 years now Bosnia Herzegovina was elected as a non-permanent member state of United Nations Security Council for the period 2010 2011 and our term ends this December. I think our participation in Security Council was Perceived by the other countries not by us as a very important and very constructive role Another very important issue in the past to NATO was The Bosnia Herzegovina got into membership action plan, which is the last step last stage before full membership Under the conditions, which I'll be talking later on Because on the very successful defense reform in Bosnia Herzegovina and Taking into account that major reforms were made until 2006 and Years after we see no significant moment in the past years which resulted in stagnation on the EU and NATO path Bosnia Herzegovina is the only country in the region that did not submit its application to become EU member Due to not being able to fulfill the necessary conditions The same goes for the NATO Accession that the major issues become state defense property as a condition to move forward The last example of this stagnation was when the law on state aid one of the conditions to present our application to EU Was on the agenda of the House of Representatives of Bosnia Herzegovina the law proposed by a minister for trade in economic relations who is a Bosnian Serb Adopted fully with concessions with the council ministers with all ethnic groups voting for it has been rejected By the House of Representatives by Bosnian Serbs member of parliament The main reason for all of this is the fact that the Dayton peace agreement has not been implemented in its central parks agreement has not Being implemented and instead has been continuously adjusted to the realities on the ground Which have resulted from the systematic violation of the agreement and not to the other way around Most of the problems and challenges that Bosnia Herzegovina faces today stem from the failure to implement the central elements of Dayton peace agreements particularly its annex seven For those who are not familiar with all this number of annexes This annex guarantees the right of all refugees and displaced persons freely to return to their homes of origin in safety and right confirmed by this Disagreement as a result of the systematic and continuous violations of the annex seven out of some 47% of non-serbs who lived in Republic of Serbs kind to be for they were either killed or cleansed only 8% of them live there now The failure to implement the annex seven has resulted in the most serious constitutional problem-facing was near Herzegovina today the so-called entity voting mechanism which was Intended as a safeguard for legitimate territorial interest of the two entities as Perceived by all three constituent peoples has morphed into mechanism by which one ethnic group From one entity blocks the state without any input from the other constituent peoples And this mechanism continues to be used as if the annex seven Had been fully implemented right now the House of Representatives in Bosnia Herzegovina's example has 42 members of Parliament 28 of them come from federation of Bosnia Herzegovina and 14 of them are from Republic of Serbs of all these 14 coming from Republic of Serbs not a single one Is a Bosnian Croat or Bosniak? They are all Bosnian Serbs That tells you that the return annex seven has not been implemented fully The entity voting mechanism allows only 10 Serb deputies elected from Republic of Serbs entity Who constitutes only 22% of the Parliament's 42 deputies to block any proposed decision of the Parliament of Bosnia Herzegovina and Over this 14 years those 10 deputies have used entity voting to block over 260 proposed laws in Construct the Parliament past less than 150 laws in the same period This ethnic monopoly or particularly veto power on territorial interest solidified ethnic division renders the state dysfunctional and in turn perpetuates instability Or as mr. Doddick the president of Republic of Serbska puts in himself and I quote We have demonstrated that we are ready and capable of defending our autonomy and our values It should be said that our concept is that for Republic of Serbska to be more independent in Bosnia Herzegovina and for our rights to be Reinstated and quote obviously this view is not shared by all the political factors in Bosnia Herzegovina but this fact on entity voting was confirmed by very prestigious Institutions worldwide first United States Congress in its resolution European Commission European Parliament Council of Europe and the Venice Commission who have all rightfully identified Entity voting as the main obstacles to the efforts of transform Bosnia Herzegovina into viable and self-sustainable country Capable of functioning in the absence of the office of high representative All of these institutions have recommended that the entity voting must be eliminated or reformed and all of their Recommendation has so far being ignored To put this into perspective to the US Constitution Provides federal government with 18 enumerated Responsibilities the rest are essentially left to the states But neither level of the government can block the other from exercising its respective responsibilities In Bosnia Herzegovina the state has 14 enumerated Responsibilities which is close enough to the US model and the rest are granted to the entities However, while the state cannot prevent the entities from exercising their responsibility one entity Can and does block the state from exercising its own This is due to the fact that the failure of sustainable return has caused the decision Making process in the state parliament to morph into ethno territorial voting mechanism Whereby Republica sub-kindity represents only one ethnic groups The second fundamental problem the question of a state property Stems from the fact that the right given to the state of Bosnia Herzegovina through annex for the Constitution of Bosnia Herzegovina annex our constitutions a part of peace deal Have been set aside in favor of political compromises necessitated by the realities on the ground Under article one of the Dayton Constitution Bosnia and Herzegovina is a sole legal successor of the Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina And the Social Republic of Bosnia Herzegovina and as such it remains the owner of all property registered to these predecessors Similarly under succession agreement Bosnia Herzegovina is the owner of all former Yugoslavia property on its territory The entities have no ownership rights on basis for claims over any such property Bosnia Herzegovina ownership of the state property is the right Guaranteed by the first article of the Dayton Constitution and was unequivocally Confirmed as such by a final and binding verdict of the state court of Bosnia Herzegovina The court created by the office of high representative generously funded and supported by many of your government and Staffed by international judges and prosecutors from an even greater number of International countries from international community. It is therefore unacceptable to seek consensus To implement this existing law or to seek political compromise with those who block its implementation The same mistake was made when a high representative imposed the entity based privatization in 1998 With obvious negative consequences for return of refugees consolidation of single economic space and reintegration of the society Just to make a very important point one of the demands made by Slobodan Milosevic in Dayton And I can vividly remember that was to divide the state property between the entities He did not achieve This goal and it's puzzling that some still insist on this demand It is true that Bosnia Herzegovina has two entities by the Dayton peace agreement But that agreement also preserves the legal continuity of Bosnia Herzegovina including of course the ownership over the state property This was one of the key balances that made Dayton possible and it also said as a primary factor between the two entities The state property is a central to Dayton and it is in the two entity structure ladies and gentlemen Security Council of United Nations had a very good reason for insisting on the implementation of Dayton agreement in its entire Entirety when it adopted resolution 1031 The solution of a myriad of difficult compromises built into Dayton ensured that agreement would function if and only if All the elements are fully implemented Non-implementation of one of the element Made many other difficult or if not impossible to function So it's not the sheer Arbitrateness on this list that is Disconcerting but the fact that the closure or office of high-representative rather than Dayton implementation has become a goal in it in and of itself and One of the central elements of Dayton has been marked for a change in order to serve that goal Namely Bosnia Herzegovina ownership of state property These ladies and gentlemen will not lead to the Dayton implement implementation in its entirety But more likely to its demise Dayton was a difficult compromise Creating necessity for a number of its elements to function in unison The office of high-representative was put in place to ensure Precisely such functioning not to give legitimacy to an a la carte implementation Just so it can leave If the OHR mission had morphed from the full implementation node to the departure mode We can only conclude that such transformation is not in accordance with the clear language of this Council resolution 1031 and the same time we cannot be expected to provide assistance for this transformation Not only do we take our internal obligations? Including Security council resolution seriously we more ever remain conscious that the dangers facing Bosnia Herzegovina if Dayton central elements are slowly reduced Modified or completed taken completely taken away For that ladies and gentlemen if one of central element is on the table, so must be all others and As stated by the international community and particularly the US the objective of having a single state of Bosnia Herzegovina capable of fulfilling its domestic and internal obligation is to be achieved two things Must be done First the state must be given a political life of its own that is independent of the entities The state must be able to carry out its stated responsibilities throughout fully Democratic process at the same time contains protection from the vital interest of each Ethnic group Bosnia Herzegovina is a complex country and those vital ethnic interest must be protected But no country including Bosnia Herzegovina can function as a viable state if every decision can be blocked Unless reform is undertaken in this direction the debate about what specific Responsibilities the state should have in the future is misguided we could transfer all responsibilities to the state level But that would be a futile exercise if the state has no mechanism to implement them in the entities Second in order to achieve the first objective the country's leadership must be elected from the entire territory of Bosnia Herzegovina Due to obstruction of refugee return today's politicians are forced to appeal to their ethnic base only By electing their representative at the state level from the country as a whole the waters Voters will be able to choose between those who offer concrete economic and social programs and those who are mired in The politics in the past The political elites will in turn have no to concentrate on building appeal that transcends ethnic lines And that truly serves to real interest of all the citizens in the country not just the perceived interest of individual ethnic group more ever the electric Elected representative will have to mandate of it of the entire country when carrying out the state's responsibilities greatly eliminating insensitive and Tolerance for blockades The debate about future of Bosnia has gone has has for far too long been stored steered towards the wrong issues The issue is not whether Bosnia Herzegovina has multiple levels of government aimed towards the separation of powers The issues whether the state can exercise its Responsibility without being prevented to do so by the entities the issues whether there will be a viable functional Bosnia has gone with the true separation of powers Order dysfunctional Bosnia has gone in which the entities decide how and when the state shall exercise the powers That's clearly has under the constitution and today's situation When Bosnia has going is a lagging behind in all reforms on EU and NATO path within the neighboring countries When conditions are not met by BH authorities when our constitution is discriminatory to the extent that all citizens of Bosnia Herzegovina are not equal or Eligible to elect to certain political office in the country and that after 14 months after the election We cannot form the council ministers eyeing government all this shows that there are serious problems in the implementation of data in moving country forward when we are hearing Calls for a friend for secession continued obstruction from politicians from Republic Kassup's car calls for the creation of the third Ethnically pure entity we have to step back and say that serious steps might be made by an international community to preserve Bosnia Herzegovina as a state and not to allow a new crisis to evolve in I'm not talking about the possibility to slip back into the violence or armed conflict God forbid war that is very remote possibility But we must ensure that Bosnia Herzegovina has functional institutions and introduced reforms necessarily for your Atlantic integrations All mentioned deficiencies cannot be changed in a parliamentary procedure because there's no political will to do so and Constitutional obstacles mentioned earlier which are used and abused especially from the Republic as Subscar side which is steering towards the creation of a state within state Please note that these are not my words, but the words of the leadership of Republic of Subscar said and repeated over and over So we have to look for a new ways of moving the country forward Fact of the matter is that Dayton piece accords which have ended the war and the bloodshed in Bosnia Herzegovina allowed my country's progress as we have certainly advanced to where we are today But at this point within this framework, we cannot move forward But Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot make the next crucial step that will propel Bosnia Herzegovina into Euro-Atlantic integration At this point in time my country needs more than Dayton Can offer therefore new ideas are welcome and one of those is a possible conference on Constitutional changes to remove the obstacles preventing Bosnia Herzegovina to move forward this gathering ought to be convened by US European Union and Russia to then together with other signatories of Dayton Accords These changes in the new era for democratic peaceful and prosperous state of Bosnia Herzegovina With efficient and functioning institutes can be launched. It is my sincere hope that discussions today Will take place here will help us and the proposals that brought before us will bring forward to such Goals and we will offer it will offer new perspectives for Bosnia Herzegovina. Thank you Well, let me throw out the throw out the first question And and if I can tease out a bit of this the conference on constitutional change As being there 16 years ago as Dayton was signed what are the critical elements of that of that conference and In the 16 years if you could provide your insights on how the roles of the US and the European Union Have changed in your view Over those last 16 years and what do you need from both? Washington and Brussels in the future to help move through these very entranced Issues whether that's entity voting or on the state or on state property Thank you for this question and I mentioned the problems and I was not able to give the answers if I could I would gladly do we did a couple of Attempts to do constitutional changes. Everybody here follows Bosnia Herzegovina remembers April package which was Done in April 2006. There was this second attempt to put me so-called put me process in a military barracks Near Sarajevo, so everybody resembles a bullet but mere Dayton. Maybe there'll be a success story No, but the proposed Things was and I can say just my opinion because I was not part of the negotiation There were some only party leaders and my friend Miroslav Leitschak was there would remember more in details I Can say just my personal opinion The proposals who had done that were fall short in April package. There were really good proposals Except having the flow Which was entity voting because then entity voting could be used in the in the parliament of Bosnia Herzegovina to elect Someone you liked and who will be obeying so if you don't like someone you just Entity voting and and then he won't be elected. So and There was another flaw that after three unsuccessful attempts to elect Chairman of the council ministers or even a member of presidency We would be into new elections So we can be by the will of this entity voting on the continuous perpetuers Elections trends on the state level. I have to at the same time on the entity level would thrive They would be can function without Any impact on the state? But what what is known to everybody to become member of EU and NATO the entities cannot Only the states can become members. So I think we have to make state institutions much for Better more function. That's why we need constitutional changes to eliminate and if if we should judge what US Congress said what Venice Commission with EU Parliament what the Council of European Union said and they notify that's the main reason Then we should I think move in that direction because there are much more Experts over there in those institutions than than myself My my party party for BH was accused of Turning down this April package, but I have to remember all of all of here who are that there was this Abolish entity voting we will vote for April package because that was the major major thing but my package had it was done under the EU leadership, which which Gave some solutions which were not accept accepted by anyone Those who are poor brosnia and those who are for for a different options So it was not accepted by all the parties and it was rejected We are always for whoever good tries to have to to to see but what I think it's not that I'm Today in this country, but I believe without US leadership things would not happen. It's not insult to EU. Sorry Miroslav, but I think it happened during the war. I experienced when US had a policy we don't have dog in this fight You remember John Harper Jim remembers that very well until and that was my main to bring and US to get involved and we had this contact group and It was very large support. So I believe we have to have all these three players EU US EU and Russia because without Russia definitely we cannot do they should be involved But I think US has to take a leadership. I stopped here I'm Mike Halsell from the Center for transatlantic relations John's often sighs spend Aside from the the usual suspects the players that We're not able to Get the April package through and not working at boot me or plus the Russians of course what about Making a role in a in a conference on constitutional change. What about making a role for civil society in Bosnia? Some of the civil society groups transcend the entity borders Would give Democratic legitimacy. I know most people when they hear civil society think it'll be a food fight, but you know we have a An example in the OSCE much much larger group than you know simply Bosnia-Herzegovina that Is giving civil society an increasing voice in its sessions? I'm saying a voice. They obviously don't have a final vote, but they have a significant voice What about what about carving out a role for civil society in this conference? Wonderful question if I can just take one or two more gentlemen to the right Alex and then Baster calls rich there and then you can wrap up. Okay Over at Kessich TSM global consultants Mr. Minister your speech laid out very well the position of Sarajevo as to the talks on constitutional reform I'm wondering How do you? See the implementation of your ideas given that both of the crucial things that you identified are opposed The first one opposed by the Republic of Sipsca and the second one opposed both by the public of Sipsca and the major Croatian parties in Bosnia other it seems to me that the Implication was that you see that the international community would impose these type of solutions is did I misread that? Rich Kozler. It's George Mason University. Welcome back to Washington. Mr. Minister. Good to see you again If the politicians of Bosnia-Herzegovina cannot form a government after 14 months How are they going to be able to agree on a new constitution? tough fire away Official is not an easy task trust me. I Used to have a dark hair when I came to Washington and you see what's happening now. It's like snow. It's outside Now I'll go questions Michael Thank you. I think you cannot have a better support of work role of civil society in me We need and you can you have so As you said transcend ethnic lines. They're so eloquent that's an knowledgeable they are really present the situation and Obviously any constitutional changes should go beyond political leaders It should be put before the people before the parliament and also before the people where the people have their say all this maybe one of the flaws of this any any was of this Education changes was because it was always the closed circles. It was not accepted by the political leaders or group of political leaders of all of them but at the end who raised the hands is The parliamentarians who are listening their party buses. Unfortunately, that's why it's important to threaten the role of civil society of those ground roots groups to have their say much stronger and They can threaten not elect these officials in a next elections, which are really around the corner in 2014 It's not that that far. So I would Support fully this and I think those who would be Discussing and thinking on on a Dayton plus or Dayton to whatever. It's some kind of conference should take and envisage strong role of Civil society, we know what what the NGOs were able to do in Serbia It's a vivid example how this power of Voice of people can be heard and can be heard very loud. So we should do it in Bosnia I think we have good groups knowledgeable groups, but we have to give them a chance. So thank you for this my friend Obrot, okay Of course, I was expecting that he will say policies of Sarajevo, but this is once has to be made clear Even Republic of Sub-Saharan Federation are in Bosnia Herzegovina in spite of the those calls We hate the Bosnia Herzegovina. We are in a tight We cannot progress in Bosnia Herzegovina. We want to do this and that this is position of Viable state of Bosnia Herzegovina And if all the entities work together in a good faith, I think we could create very good country I'll take you one example Visa liberalization process we got a map road map for this very difficult Things to achieve but it was in a common interest for this Visa liberalization to appeal to the electorate to give them visa-free travel in Europe Even in Republic of Sub-Saharan, they decided to transfer some authority or so-called Sovereignty of the entity to the state level it had to be so we believe that Placing Bosnia Herzegovina into the European Union as soon as possible can be a format where the entities and the state of Bosnia Herzegovina can find its way both without saying oh, we are endangering the entity Status or we are taking authorities from Transferring authorities from the entity to the state. No one is taking because All if we move forward will bring benefit to all the citizens and we have to start thinking in that sense Not to look. Oh, what would I do for my? Entity for my people. That's why I was proponent maybe different election election law which would bring more transparency to that you Answer to every citizens of Bosnia has not to appeal to your ethnic group and then of course You're saying oh, you see there's a terrorism. There's of a habits all over the Bosnia. They are after Christians or whatever so I believe we should not look to the policies as Sarajevo policies policies of Bosnia Herzegovina and and the I Think you impose differently. I was not imposing that anything In that sense what you were mention mentioning I was saying that we should be working for Bosnia Herzegovina together and to move forward because European Union for all the countries of forming us love Bosnia Herzegovina Serbia Montenegro Macedonia is the best possible format to achieve all the rights of all the ethnic groups of all the peoples and bringing them better better stand on all the way and Answer to be short to the ambassador Kozleric Forming of the government. I think that's not the main goal. Everybody think that forming of the government It's going to to solve all these problems of our accession to EU or NATO No, why we don't have form form government so far I think what is important to hear to understand the package that reforms are adopted It easier would be later to divide the chairs who would be playing Clarence who will be trombone who will be doing this and that but I think we have to agree and I tend to agree with these policies that we look for the package to fulfill this Conditionality necessary to move on EU to fulfill the conditionality to move on a to these are two Critical issues and to hold the census in Bosnia Herzegovina if political leaders who will be creating majority in the new parliament would agree on the on those Main issue. I don't think that the would be a big problem in distribution of the chairs of the in the council Mr. Ockel I thank you so much for those comments and please join me in thanking the minister