U Sarajevo sam stigao nakon posjeta u dvije druge zemlje u regiji. Naime, bio sam u Albaniji i Srbiji i sada sam ovdje. Imao sam niz sastanaka s kolegama u Parlamentu, članovima Predsjedništva, premijerom koji predsjedava Vijećem ministara, s ministrom za vanjske poslove. Posjetu zaključujem uz ponešto pomiješana osjećanja. Zemlja bilježi određeni napredak. Bio sam impresioniran tokom susreta s predsjedavajućim Vijeća ministara i ministrom za vanjske poslove u jutarnjim satima. Jučer sam također imao izrazito detaljnu i korisnu razmjenu s predsjednikom Izetbegovićem. Zemlja se još uvijek nalazi u teškoj ekonomskoj situaciji. Jučer sam se sastao s mladim studentima Univerziteta u Sarajevu i za mene je bilo vrlo važno da čujem njihova očekivanja, nade ali i brige mladih u zemlji.

Nezaposlenost mladih, koja iznosi oko 60 posto, i dalje predstavlja jedan od najvećih izazova za sve nas, ne samo ovdje u Bosni i Hercegovini. Ovo je problem Europske unije u cjelini. Kompletan program potrebnih reformskih koraka, poput jučerašnjeg usvajanja Okvirnog sporazuma za finansiranje iz instrumenta IPA u Domu naroda, jeste korak naprijed. Od najveće važnosti je i opredjeljenje vlasti da budu dio razvoja europske mreže, jer razvoj infrastrukture predstavlja preduslov za privlačenje investitora i zemlja treba strana ulaganja. Ali za strana ulaganja, zemlja treba unutrašnju stabilnost, a unutrašnja stabilnost ovisi o spremnosti odgovornih političara na saradnju. I do sada sam imao ponovljeno iskustvo kao i prije četiri godine kada sam bio ovdje u svojstvu predsjednika jedne od parlamentarnih grupa u Europskom parlamentu u 2011. godini.

Bio sam ovdje u trenutku kada se u Republici Srpskoj raspravljalo o referendumu. A danas sam ponovo ovdje i upravo u momentu moje posjete, referendum je ponovo na dnevnom redu i prijedlog je usvojen jučer u Banjoj Luci. Mislim da bi predsjednik Dodik trebao uzeti u obzir da referendumi služe kao element za temeljne odluke. U parlamentarnoj demokratiji, u parlamentarizmu, uloga je zastupničkih tijela da djeluju u ime birača. Birači delegiraju svoj glas parlamentarcima na određeno vrijeme, koji onda odlučuju u ime svojih birača. Ali određeni sistemi poznaju koncept referenduma, upravo u trenutku kada se javi pitanje od takve temeljne važnosti da glasanje u parlamentu nije dovoljno. Birači i građani trebaju biti izravno konzultirani.

Stoga, mišljenja sam da su referendumi smisleni i korisni onda kada je riječ o temeljnim pitanjima. Ako se koriste iz taktičkih razloga, onda je to pogrešan instrument. Utisak mi je, kada vidim pitanje koje se postavlja pred građane Republike Srpske, da je ovo visokorizična igra. Čini mi se da zemlji nisu potrebne rasprave o ovakvom pitanju. Potrebna su nam strana ulaganja, zapošljavanje, rast, ekonomske reforme, saradnja. Stoga sam bio iznenađen zbog činjenice da se ponovo govori o referendumskom pitanju. Smatram to kontraproduktivnim. Posjetu zaključujem s utiskom da ovdje još uvijek postoji puno dobre volje.

Mišljenja sam da Europska unija treba držati vrata otvorenima, za cijelu regiju, ne samo za Bosnu i Hercegovinu, već za sve zemlje regije. A tu je i nešto što me je zaista iznenadilo, a to je da je zaista tek nekolicina ljudi koje sam sreo bila upoznata s činjenicom da Vaša zemlja trenutno predsjedava Vijećem ministara Vijeća Europe, Odborom ministara Vijeća Europe, odnosno da je Ministarstvo vanjskih poslova Bosne i Hercegovina predsjedavajuće. Usput, istovremeno Srbija predsjedava OSCE-om. Na međunarodnoj razini, BiH je punopravna članica međunarodne zajednice, ali u samoj zemlji mi raspravljamo o pitanjima poput onih koja su jučer isticana u Banjoj Luci. Tu zaista imate jedan nesrazmjer.

Stoga, pozdravljam sve one u zemlji, uz podršku Europskog parlamenta, sa svim našim sredstvima, one koji žele odvesti svoju zemlju na put moderne, punopravne, u cijelosti integrirane članice međunarodne zajednice. Postoji jako puno predanosti ne samo za rad na reformama u zemlji, već i da se zemlju odvede u Europsku uniju.

Sarajevo – I came after visiting other two countries of the region, I was in Albania and Serbia and now here. I had a lot of meetings with the colleagues at the Parliament, with the members of the Presidency, with the Prime Minister who chairs the Council of Ministers, with the Foreign Affairs Minister. I am now concluding my visit with some mixed feelings. There is some progress in the country. I was deeply impressed by my meeting with the Chair of the Council of Ministers and with the Foreign Affairs Minister in the morning. I also had a very deep and fruitful exchange with President Izetbegovic yesterday. The country is still in a difficult economic situation. I had a meeting with young students from the University of Sarajevo yesterday and it was, for me, very important to listen to expectation, hope but also the worry of young people in the country.

Youth unemployment, around 60 percent, remains one of the biggest challenges for all of us, not only here in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a problem in the European Union as a whole. The whole agenda of necessary reform steps, for example the adoption yesterday of the Framework Agreement for the IPA financing instrument in the House of Peoples, is a step forward. Also the commitment of the government to be a part of the European network developments is of the highest importance because infrastructure development is a precondition to attract investors and the country needs foreign investments. But for foreign investments, the country needs internal stability, and internal stability depends on the preparedness of the responsible politicians to cooperate. And so far I had a repetition of an experience I faced four years ago when I was here as a Chairman of the Parliamentary Group in the European Parliament in 2011.

I was here just at the the moment when the Republika Srpska referendum was discussed; and now today I am once more here and exactly just in the time of my visit there is once more a referendum on the agenda, adopted yesterday in Banja Luka. I think President Dodik should take into account that referendums are elements for fundamental decisions. In a parliamentary democracy, in a system of parliamentarism, the role of a parliament is to act on behalf of voters. Voters delegate their vote to parliamentarians for a certain time and these parliamentarians decide on behalf of their voters. But some systems know the element of referendum, exactly at the moment when the question on the table is so fundamental that it is not enough to vote in the parliament. Directly, the voters and citizens should be consulted.

Therefore, I think referendums are then meaningful and useful when it is about the fundamental questions. If they are used for tactical reasons – it is the wrong instrument. My feeling is, also looking at the question which is put to the citizens of Republika Srpska, this is playing with the high risk. My feeling is what the country needs are not debates about that kind of question. What we need are foreign investments, employment, growth, economic reforms, cooperation. Therefore, I was surprised about the fact that once more that referendum question is at stake. I find it counterproductive. Therefore, I conclude with an impression of my visit here that there is a lot of good will.

I think that the European Union must keep the door – for the whole region, not only for Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the whole countries from the region – open. And there is an element which is really surprising, few people I meet knew that your country is chairing for the time being the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe – that the Foreign Ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the Chair. By the way, at the same moment we have Serbia chairing the OSCE. On the international level BiH is a full fledged member of the international community, but in the country itself we are discussing about questions like those put yesterday in Banja Luka, this is disproportionate.

Therefore, I greet all those people in the country, with the support of the European Parliament, with all our means, those people who want to bring your country on the road to being a modern, full-fledged, full integrated member of the international community. There is a lot of commitment also not only to reform the country, but to bring the country to the European Union.