In Banja Luka, on April 17, the final public debate on the Draft Constitution of the RS entity is being held. The event is attended by entity officials, among them fugitives from the state judiciary – Milorad Dodik and Nenad Stevandić.
Before the debate began, Dodik addressed journalists, stating that this was “their right to Republika Srpska, which has been under attack for all of the past 30 years,” and that the idea behind this process is for RS to “return to itself and to the original Dayton Agreement.”
“RS has no intention of creating any documents other than the one that aligns with the letter of the Dayton Agreement, while also including certain essential European values,” he said.
Dodik also spoke about the constitutional amendments imposed by the High Representatives, saying that they “were never satisfied with the added provisions of the Constitution” because it “was never our constitution.”
“We believe that, as a people, we are restoring our dignity through the fact that we’ve had such a strong and public debate, which is proof that the people understand the situation — that the Draft Constitution of RS will be determined and submitted to the parliament. Thank you, thank you all,” said the fugitive from Laktaši.
He added that this is a “serious task” and that it will be a constitution “that will endure” and “won’t be changed every year.” He then addressed the idea of a referendum:
“We are all ready to support the idea of a referendum, and it should be a binding one — not just a show to indicate a general stance, but rather a true decision of the people, one that will be supported by the National Assembly of RS. My idea would be to hold that referendum on January 9 and in that way validate the date that everyone has tried to destroy.”
Dodik also called on Croats and Bosniaks to participate in the discussion: “We don’t want to exclude them; we want to offer the highest possible standards.”
Written by our correspondent D.I.
