A united political program

ALIJA BEHMEN Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia has enjoyed relative peace since the Dayton Agreement brought an end to the Yugoslav War in 1995. Today it is a slightly uneasy coalition of two different entities, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, which divide the country’s population almost evenly. They are presided over by Chairman of the Council Zlatko Lagumdzija and have a high level of autonomy in their military, police, customs, financial and educational departments. Each has its own assembly, government and presidency but, though the parliamentary structure is in operation, procedures still get blocked and bills fail to become statutary. Mr. Lagumdzija is nevertheless optimistic. “If people want a system to function, there is a way to do it,” he says.

MLADEN IVANIC Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska

The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or FBiH (Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine), is principally Muslim-Croatian and Social Democrat. Alija Behmen, a Muslim ‘Bosniak’, is its prime minister. Dr. Behmen’s party established a majority in parliament largely thanks to the internationally-backed ‘Alliance for Change’, which brought ten political parties together. Subsequently, he set up authorities at state and FBiH level. “We have a unified political program,” he says. The UN-appointed High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, is taking action to curb the destabilizing separatist policies of the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) which represents 16% of the population.
The Republic of Srpska, or RS, is predominantly Serbian, and prime minister Mladen Ivanic’s Party of Democratic Progress has some nationalist parties among his coalition partners. These include the hardline Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) who could harm Mr. Ivanic’s multi-ethnic policies. In spite of claims that secret meetings are still being held, Mr. Ivanic aims pragmatically at more open decision-making and supports the passing of a law to extradite war criminals to The Hague. “There are some very positive signs of improvement,” he
affirms, such as harmonized and reformed tax laws.