BOSNIA - INABILITY TO APPOINT A NEW HEAD OF THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000173 SIPDIS EUR (JONES),EUR/SCE (FOOKS, MCGUIRE); NSC FOR HELGERSON; OSD FOR BEIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/11/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID KDEM BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA - INABILITY TO APPOINT A NEW HEAD OF THE DIRECTORATE FOR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION HIGHLIGHTS THE CHALLENGES BOSNIA'S EU ACCESSION PROCESS POSES FOR BOSNIA AND THE EU Classified By: Deputy Chief Of Mission Judith B. Cefkin for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Despite the need for strong leadership at the Directorate for European Integration (DEI) to ensure that Bosnia implements the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU and other EU priorities, the country's political parties have clashed for over eight months over the appointment of a new DEI director. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers (CoM) Nikola Spiric, a member of RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik's political party, has been blocking the appointment process because he and his allies want assurances that the new Director will be a Serb. Bosniaks and Croats in the government have insisted on following the civil service process required by law. These clashes came to a head in January after Spiric sought to place himself at the head of the directorate until a new director was found. Bosniaks from the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) threatened to boycott the CoM in response, though they later softened their opposition. The European Commission has been reticent to engage and press for an acceptable resolution of the problem. This sad episode underscores Bosnian politicians' unwillingness to sacrifice their narrow political interests in favor of the broader EU agenda and the EU's continued passivity to issues of importance to it. END SUMMARY. Serbs Insist New EU Integration Director Must be a Serb -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) The Directorate for European Integration (DEI),a state-level office attached to the Council of Ministers (CoM),is responsible for supervising implementation of initiatives related to Bosnia's EU accession efforts. Created in 2002, DEI's work took on even greater importance with the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union in June 2008. DEI is overseeing the implementation of the Interim Agreement, an element of the SAA which entered into force in July, as well as a 30-point action plan adopted by the CoM in September aimed at addressing key European Partnership priorities. Until January 19, DEI was led by Osman Topcagic, an able and widely respected (Bosniak) civil servant who left to become Bosnia's ambassador to the European Union. The Presidency nominated Topcagic for Ambassador to the EU in July 2008, a selection that was widely hailed at the time. ¶3. (C) CoM Chair Spiric, a Serb and ally of Republika Srpska (RS) PM Dodik, refused to put Topcagic's resignation on the CoM agenda for six months, however, making it impossible for him to assume his duties in Brussels. Spiric also blocked the publication of a vacancy announcement for a new DEI Director. Instead, he and other RS politicians, including Dodik, sought a guarantee from other political parties that the new DEI Director would be a Serb. They argued, among other things, that the Serbs were entitled to the position because there were, in their view, too few Serbs in leadership positions in state-level institutions. The CoM is responsible for selecting the DEI Director, but it must select a candidate from among a short-list assembled by the Civil Service Commission, which assesses candidates based on merit. Spiric Tries to Take Over DEI -------------- ¶4. (C) In January, Spiric finally relented and allowed the CoM to consider and accept Topcagic's resignation, allowing him to leave for Brussels, but Spiric rejected Topcagic's recommendation that Amela Alihodzic, a civil servant and DEI's de facto deputy director, be appointed Topcagic's successor. Instead, Spiric announced that he would temporarily take charge of DEI, claiming that this action was justified given the impasse over naming a successor to Topcagic and legal given that the Law on the Council of Ministers accords responsibility for the work of DEI to the CoM Chair. However, Bosniak and Croat politicians were quick to criticize what they deemed an ill-advised and politically-motivated move that contravened existing legislation. Halid Genjac, chair of the BiH Parliamentary Commission on European Integration and a Party for Democratic SARAJEVO 00000173 002 OF 002 Action (SDA) member, State Security Minister Tarik Sadovic (SDA) asserted that Spiric's action was illegal. BiH House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Niko Lozancic (Croatian Democratic Union of BiH, HDZ BiH) opined that Spiric had enough work to do as CoM Chair and did not need to add to his duties. SDA Turns Up the Heat -------------- ¶5. (C) SDA was so incensed by Spiric's temporary takeover of DEI that the party's collegium announced that its ministers would boycott all CoM meetings, in effect paralyzing the government. However, SDA later "clarified" its position, stressing that its ministers would attend CoM meetings but oppose DEI-related agenda items as long Spiric sought to exercise direct control over DEI. Commenting on SDA's position, party Vice President Bakir Izbetgeovic accused Serbs of deliberately seeking to block the development of the state and the implementation of SAA requirements. Security Minister Sadovic also reportedly sent instructions to DEI employees, warning that they should not follow Spiric's directives. SDA's angry outbursts also prompted the international community to weigh in. The Office of the High Representative (OHR) stated publicly that the daily management of DEI should be left to a civil servant as required by the Law on Civil Service. The European Commission has continued to refrain from publicly commenting on the issue, however. Serbs Fire Back -------------- ¶6. (U) SNSD politicians, in turn, swiftly fired back at SDA and other critics. House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Milorad Zivkovic claimed that critics feared that Spiric would unearth problems at DEI. In a January 21 press statement, SNSD stated that SDA's strident response to Spiric's actions proved that "once taken by a Bosniak, a political position belongs to this people until the end of history." Spiric also accused Sadovic of carrying out a "passive blockade" of the CoM by instructing DEI employees, including Alihadzic, not to attend a January 21 CoM meeting on DEI's activities. Sadovic, however, denied Spiric's charges, and accused Spiric and the SNSD of attempting to "dictate BiH's European (integration efforts) in accordance with a model where the RS is in the first place and BiH in the second." On February 9 Spiric had his reported choice for DEI Director, Vojin Mijatovic, the RS Deputy Finance Minister, essentially takeover as acting DEI director, though Mijatovic reportedly lacks the requisite experience for the position and Alihodzic remains in place. Spiric has finally authorized the Civil Service Commission to advertise the DEI Director vacancy, however. Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) The continued wrangling among the political parties over the appointment of a new head of DEI eight months after the signing of an SAA, a relatively simple task compared to the hundred of pages of the acquis that Bosnia must implement, underscores a sad truth about Bosnia: the pull of EU accession is not yet strong enough to overcome Bosnia's ethnic divisions or its dysfunctional state structures. The episode also demonstrates the problems associated with the EU's current approach to Bosnia, which is far too passive to achieve the results required to keep Bosnia moving forward at a reasonably steady pace. Finally, it underscores just how critical it is to get the selection of the new HighRep/EUSR right and to press the Europeans to provide him/her with the mandate and tools required to successfully manage a post-OHR Bosnia. ENGLISH