The "mini Schengen" idea one of the best in the Balkans in the 21st century

01. Aug 2021.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nemanja Starović, stated that the "mini Schengen" idea is one of the best ideas born in the Balkans in the 21st century.

Speaking as a guest on TV Prva, Starović said that the initiative was based on the basic values ​​on which the EU is based, that the support provided by the United States, as well as our European partners, such as the Visegrad Group, was very important.

"As for the region and those who have some reservations, Sarajevo, Podgorica and Pristina, I believe that they will very quickly understand the value of this initiative and join it", Starović said, adding that Pristina itself undertook to join this initiative through the Washington Agreement.

Speaking about Valentin Inzko's decision, Starović emphasized that it was both formally and essentially deeply wrong, as well as that it caused a great political crisis in B&H.

"Such a decision leads to an even greater rift between the Serb and Bosniak factors in the Balkans and introduces us to even greater misunderstandings", Starović said, adding that everything needed to be done to preserve peace and stability.

"We must understand how painful a wound the crime in Srebrenica is, and Bosniaks should understand how unacceptable it is for Serbs to be declared perpetrators of genocide and how unacceptable it is to deny the existence of the Republic of Srpska", Starović said.

According to him, the essential problem of the functionality of B&H is not the Republic of Srpska, but the relations between the Croat and Bosniak factors in B&H and the fact that there has been no functional government in the Federation for almost three years. He assessed that the high representative did not deal with that, and that we are now in a situation where we have to deal with the events of 30 years ago and put out the fire caused by the high representative.

"We are entering a period of uncertainty and a high level of responsibility and awareness is needed in order to overcome this and enable a normal political balance", Starović concluded.