Agnes Szucs
10 January 2022•Update: 11 January 2022
BRUSSELS
The European Union on Monday condemned the divisive rhetoric used by Bosnian Serb leaders during nationalist celebrations of Statehood Day.
“The EU firmly condemns the negative, divisive and inflammatory rhetoric used by Republika Srpska (RS) leaders during the celebrations of 9th of January this Sunday,” Peter Stano, lead spokesperson of the European External Action Service, wrote in a statement.
On Sunday, Bosnian Serbs held public celebrations on the 30th anniversary of the proclamation of the autonomous Republika Srpska in 1992 that led to war.
According to the bloc’s statement, the rhetoric and actions during the holiday further escalated the ongoing political crisis and put the country’s stability and prosperity at risk.
The document also said the celebrations were against a 2015 ruling by the country’s constitutional court saying the holiday could be discriminatory against other ethnic and religious groups.
The EU called on Bosnian Serb leaders to put an end to “the worrying trend of hatred and intolerance,” including the glorification of war criminals and the denial of their crimes.
“We, therefore, urge all leaders, including the leadership of Republika Srpska, to bring unacceptable divisive steps to an end and return in full to the work of State institutions,” the statement added.
In 1995, the Dayton Agreement ending the Yugoslav Wars created a complex double-federative system of two main entities, the Republika Srpska and the Croat-Bosniak-populated Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The country’s worst political turmoil since the end of the war started last July when Serb officials started to boycott federal institutions after outgoing High Representative Valentin Inzko introduced a new law banning the denial of genocide and criminalizing the glorification of war criminals.
The crisis escalated in October when Milorad Dodik, leader of the Republika Srpska, announced it was quitting the main federal institutions to achieve sovereignty.
Last week, the US imposed sanctions on Dodik and other leaders for corruption and threatening the country’s stability and territorial integrity.
On Sunday, Statehood Day celebrations ended in provocative acts in several towns of the Republika Srpska, such as damaging monuments commemorating the Srebrenica genocide, singing songs that honor war criminal Ratko Mladic, and insulting Muslims by loudspeakers.
