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No Joint Statement on Dayton Agreement
Ivana Stevanovic
oneworld.net
07 November 2005

Presidents of Serbian and Montenegro and Croatia, as well as the Members of B&H Presidency, refused to sign the joint statement in which they express agreement on the necessity to change the Dayton Agreement, as proposed by the organizers of the Igman Initaitives.

No joint statements and smiling photos this time?
The organizers from the Igman Initaitive presented the draft-Statement yesterday in Sarajevo, and it was offered for signing to Sulejman Tihic, Mamber of B&H Presidency, Croatian President Mesic and SCG President Marovic. The draft concludes that the Daytom Agreement remains an important political document which was created in a specific point in time, to serve for a very specific purpose.

"The Agreement has earned its place in the history and we should not waste the time debating whether it needs changes or not. The realities of daily life have outgrown the Agreement, so we need to seek new forms and frameworks for more adequate, functional and contemporary approach to the needs of the B&H citizens and the new political realities”, says the Draft-Statement.

The Statement includes an obligation for each state-signatory of the Dayton Agreement, to take full responsibvility for its actions inside the state borders, with continued constructive cooperation with the neighvours, adherence to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs of other states, mutual respect and regional policies based on European standards.

Sejfudin Tokic, President of Forum of Democratic Alternative B&H, said that the statement will not signed because of lack of coordination of positions held by the members of B&H Presidency. He added that the Cabinets of Presidents Mesic and Marovic have sent signals of possible amendments to the Joint Statement, but all indications show that the B&H Presidency failed to reach and agreement.

Therefor, changes will be made in the agenda of the Igman Initiative Session that takes place today, in Sarajevo. Insted of the signing of the Joint Statement, as initially planned, it will be just presented for future consideration to the Heads-of-State of the three countries.

Tokic emphasized that B&H should first harmonize its legal system with the EU, and that the cooperation between B&H, SCG and Croatia should outgrow the Dayton arrangements and continue in the spirit of European standards, with respect to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of internal affairs of other countries.

The two-day meeting of the Igman Initiative, which started yesterday in Sarajevo, is organized by the Forum of Democratic Alternative – Sarajevo, the Centre for Regionalism - Novi Sad, and the Civic Board for Human Rights from Zagreb. The main topic of the Conference will be “Relations between B&H, Croatia and SCG Ten Years after Dayton”.

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