Background TV material recorded on the International Conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which took place in Geneva on 20-21 October 2005.
Background TV material recorded on the International Conference for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which took place in Geneva on 20-21 October 2005. Elvir Bucalo covered the conference for SEETV, and we will transmit the best extracts of interviews and context shots with leading personalities participating in the Conference. Interviews of: - Wolfgang Petritsch, former High Representative in BiH
- Carl Bildt, former High Representative in BiH
- Paddy Ashdown, High Representative in BiH
- Adnan Terzic, Bosnian Prime Minister
- Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Enlargement
- Carla del Ponte, Chief Prosecutor ICTY
Subjects: Dayton, what`s next - BiH cooperation with ICTY
DURATION: 14’20” TRANSCRIPT 00’00’’ Cutaway - Beginning of the conference. 01’26’’ Opening of the conference by Wolfgang Petritsch, Austrian diplomat, former High Representative to BiH 01’48’’ Cutaway – images of the conference 02’29’’ Olli Rehn’s speech at the conference. 03’21’’ Interview with Olli Rehn, European Commissioner for Enlargement “I think that it is very important that Bosnia and Herzegovina has been able to agree on the policy reform and has made progress on the public broadcasting law and other reforms so as to facilitate soon the opening of the negociations on a stabilization and association agreement with the European Union. In order to have a well working relationship with the European Union it is necessary that the state is capable to fulfil the obligations of the agreement and later on move forward towards accession, and therefore we are concerned that the constitution of the country is not providing with a very well functioning and viable state structure. Therefore I encourage Bosnia and Herzegovina to start reflect on how to work out a constitutional evolution to create a more viable and functional state.” 04’34’’ Cutaways – images of the conference 04’45’’ Carl Bildt’s speech at the conference 05’16’’ Interview with Carl Bildt, Swedish Diplomat, former High Representative to BiH “The peace agreement is the peace agreement, you can’t change that but the constitution can only change. I mean today I should be in Stockholm because I’m going to be with the committee that is going to review the Swedish constitution and we will do changes in that one. It takes quite some time to reach a consensus on it and you need consensus in order to change a constitution. Constitutions are always living documents. That applies to Bosnia as well. But my message is also very much that the key issues that I hope the politicians of Bosnia should concentrate on are the economic reforms. The economic and social situations are desperate in parts of Bosnia and if that does not improve, I feel it will be very difficult some years down the road.” “I think that’s wrong. There’s really nothing in the present constitutional framework that makes it impossible to do economic reforms. What is lacking is the political will of the politicians to do it. Economic reforms are difficult sometimes but you need to do it. If you continue to discuss constitution change forever and neglect economic ones there will be an economic and social catastrophy in Bosnia.” 06’30’’ Cutaways – images of the conference 06’55’’ Adnan Terzic’s speech at the conference. 08’14’’ Interview with Adnan Terzic, Bosnian Prime Minister: “Ja govorim o tome da je doslo vreme da se evropske zemlje preko evropske komisije podrzavajuci proces stabilizacije u regionu zapadnog Balkana vise involviraju u resenje pitanja zemalja koje su ustvari u srcu Evrope. Dejton jeste u momentu prepreka, njegova konstitucija, njegova struktura jeste prepreka da vlasti Bosna I Hercegovine odgovore izazovima kakvi jesu pregovori o stabilizaciji I pridruzivanju. Kako u situaciji pregovarati recimo o vrlo bitnom segmentu ugovora o poljoprivredi. Vlast vjece ministara nema ingerencija na poljoprivredom ali to imaju entiteti medjutim vjece ministara pregovara I vlada Bosne I Hercegovine pregovara sa evropskom unijom I pregovaraju entiteti.” 09’15’’ Cutaway – images of the conference 10’01’’ Paddy Ashdown’s speech at the conference. Paddy Ashdown is the current High Representative to BiH “And this is one of the great axes of closure that has to be finished. I always said there were three axe of closure which Bosnia had to complete before we could look to the future and not be obsessed with the past. The first was putting the final stone in The Stari Most in Mostar. The second was that the last refugee who wishes to return to his home is able to do so. And the third is Karadzic and Mladic in The Hague. You can’t have peace without justice. And until the primary way of justice is properly unable and that means Karadzic and Mladic in the Hague, then you will not get a stable peace. There was a day, three or four years ago, when Karadzic in the hills could stop the progress of reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he cannot do so now. At the moment he’s in The Hague, the whole reform process will lurch forward very considerably and that’s what Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to do.” 10’55’’ Cutaway – images of the conference 11’04’’ Interview with Olli Rehn: “It is a very important issue that the country as well as all the other countries in the region continue their significant progress in their cooperation with the ICTY in order to achieve full cooperation with the Tribunal. It is very important, for that reconciliation, that such war criminals like Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic will be brought to justice to the Hague.” 11’36’’ Cutaway - images of the conference. 12’28’’ Carla Del Ponte’s speech at the conference. Carla Del Ponte is the Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY “Karadzic and Mladic as you know are still at large and no government structure anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina is close to capturing either of them. The daunting shadow of unpunished and denied war crimes continues to mar the relations between the main communities. Until the two individuals, principal responsible, Karadzic and Mladic, stand trial in the Hague, justice will remain undone. The victims will not be satisfied and there will not be a promising path towards reconciliation. The reasons why these two fugitives are still at large after ten years are not too mysterious. In the first years after Dayton, there was no political will to bring them to The Hague. Over the last few years the political pressure of the International Community has increased, as a result Belgrade, Podgorica and Banja Luka have stepped up their efforts. I have no evidence however that now the political will is truly there. As long as there will be only nice words but no concrete results, doubts will remain.” 14’02’’ Cutaways - conference 14’23’’ END OF TRANSMISSION | 
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