DNS leader Nenad Nesic tells Telegraf: "I see the RS as a piedmont of Serbdom"

Photo: DNS

The leader of the Democratic People's Alliance (DNS), Nenad Nesic, attracted a lot of attention in the region when he, in October last year, decided that his political party should leave the ruling coalition with the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNDS), and join the opposition in the Serb Republic (RS; Republika Srpska, the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH).

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According to him, the situation in the RS is such that it requires changes, changes for which, in his opinion, the SNSD was not ready.

Speaking about himself, he stressed that he is a politician who wants to be in direct contact with people, rather than through social networks. A former member of the ruling circles, he is now a part of the opposition, Nesic reveals in an interview with Telegraf.rs what he thinks about his former coalition partner Milorad Dodik, as well as his stances regarding the problems of the authorities in BiH, the Dayton Agreement, and relations between the RS and Serbia...

• It's recently been a years since the coronavirus epidemic put the entire planet under its "paw." Recently, BiH's daily new cases and death numbers have been dramatic, which is why the Federation (the Muslim-Croat entity, FBiH) introduced a curfew. In your opinion, how have the authorities responded to these epidemiological challenges at the Federation, but also at the RS level?

- The coronavirus pandemic has shown all the power of politicking as a way of life for most politicians in the RS and BiH. Miraculously, the government managed to be united in one thing - in some very efficient and harmonious inaction. While I was the director of JP Putevi during the pandemic, we started completing works before deadlines, we made new contracts and I did everything so that no job was lost, and it was not in my jurisdiction. As the president of the DNS, both before and after the decision to join the opposition, I said that we must be mature, united and serious, because we need to survive coronavirus, but after that we have to make a living somehow. Unfortunately, the difference between Serbia and BiH in the last year has been obvious. Everything that Serbia is a leader in, BiH is in the back of. As if the Drina River were the Pacific Ocean, there is so much difference and is it so hard to look over and see how things are done if you don't already know it yourself.

• In an interview, you said that everything in BiH is a political issue, that is, that everything becomes an ethnicity issue. What is your assessment of the political scene in the Federation, but also in the RS?

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- The state of complete uncertainty in all segments of society except in one - it is certain that even without a war, national trenches are dominant. In that situation, ordinary people of all religions and ethnicities are leaving their homes in search of a better life. Let's be clear, the RS is above being put into question and more than anything it's the only guarantor of the survival for all Serbs, as well as the only framework in which BiH as a state is possible. And it's time for everyone come to their senses, to remove the things about which discussions have lasted too long, and in this framework create a society in which people stay and children are getting born. Otherwise, this situation will lead to nobody but politicians remaining in BiH, because people are increasingly voting with their feet and leaving their homes.

• The DNS departing the ruling coalition created a real political "earthquake" in the RS. What were your reasons to leave the alliance with the SNSD, and how did it affect your party's political strength and popularity?

- That is the most significant political event in the last few years, in the RS political scene. The situation in the RS is such that the time has come for changes, changes that the SNSD was not ready for. We were the longest-lasting coalition and did many good things together for the RS. Unprepared for substantial changes and even for changing itself, the SNSD started forcibly rewriting the political reality. The highest representatives of the RS referred to people's deputies as 'tools'. Out of fear from the people, parties that the people vote for were split for a handful of pieces of silver. All in the belief that one must rule forever. I don't think so, you should be an honorable person forever. And hold the RS above each of our parties. In the last elections, the DNS defended its status as the third political party in the RS. I want the top for the DNS. That is the goal.

• You are a critic of Milorad Dodik. What mistakes is he making, in your opinion, and which things you would set up differently?

- I have nothing against Mr. Dodik personally. Moreover, I am disgusted by politics that is personal. Politics is a business in which we have competitors and partners, not enemies and rags. Mr. Milorad Dodik missed the opportunity of his enormous authority, which he should have used to strengthen the RS institutionally, so that institutions and laws would be stronger than party decisions, a lot of money and influence that certain parts of his party had accumulated. I think that he personally is, to a large extent, a hostage of such a state of things. This is confirmed by his initiative to merge the functions of the president of the RS and the (Serb) member of the Presidency of BiH. He does not trust his closest associates and their ability to win. He is ready to subordinate the institutional collapse of the RS to his possible victory. The SNSD has become a party of too many people who can buy everything, and they are worth nothing politically and from the human point of view. And to underline - I am not happy that a member of the Presidency of BiH is in that situation. Nor that the RS is a secondary issue compared to partisan interest.

• There are also some things Dodik did right?

- Of course. The coalition between the SNSD and the DNS is the one that strengthened the RS. The RS has really transformed itself  infrastructurally. We have done a lot regarding road infrastructure. We were were persistent, the DNS  much more stubbornly, around Serb national interests, and that probably saved our right to our Republic in the past. However, changes were needed. Similar to those in Serbia. To move from spending loans and a permanent political campaign towards developing the real sector, to use examples of investments like those in Prijedor to have foreign capital and jobs throughout the Republic, to be the slaves to achievements and results and not to the party hierarchy, to show, through fighters and mothers, that our hearts beat for those who defended our lives and and for those who gave our lives to us.

• Do you agree with politicians from the RS who say BiH doesn't need a High Representative?

- It's like asking me if a 16-year-old teenager needs a diaper, because no one has dared to take it off for 14 years. We are the only country in Europe that has a High Representative as a kind of an imperial governor. If we need such an undemocratic, and in its essence an institution that does not belong in modern Europe, then BiH is not a state. I think that BiH, through its two entities, three constituent peoples, had enough potential in a format that is acceptable to everyone, there would be no need for the diaper called the High Representative.

• Lately there has been more and more talk about the Dayton agreement, i.e., that there is more and more desire for the RS to secede. To what degree is this 1995 agreement respected and should the RS really leave BiH?

- I am a responsible politician. This means that I will not use my own and the people's wishes for the sake of scoring cheap political points in the short term, while jeopardizing the chances that the wishes will one day become a reality. The Dayton arrangement is the only arrangement by which BiH survives. Those who play with it or relativize it extinguish the chances of Bosnia and Herzegovina's survival, rather than my wishes, which I will responsibly keep silent about, do.

• How do you see relations with Serbia and its assistance given to the RS, especially during the coronavirus pandemic?

"Serbia is our motherland. We in the RS know and feel Serbia much more than the other way around. Since Aleksandar Vucic came to power, I have noticed that this is changing. The RS is not a ficus plant to be used in election campaigns and photo opportunities when needed. The president of Serbia treats it the way it deserves to be teated. At the same time, Serbia is very agile in using the special and parallel ties with us to invest and help the RS. Serbia's strength in the period of the pandemic compared to others in the region is obvious. We felt it, because help in the form of vaccines that save our frontline doctors came precisely from Serbia. Let me say, my Serb heart was full when the president of Serbia was the first to bring salvation (vaccines) to the Sarajevo airport. Not so far in the future from today, he will have partners in the RS who will be able to follow him in the achievements that Serbia has had.

• Drasko Stanivukovic and Milorad Dodik are some of the better known politician (from the RS) in Serbia. Which one is closer to your positions and why?

- The RS is not divided between the two of them. Their mutual conflict or the conflict between any politicians does not change reality. Reality is changed by people, hundreds of thousands of people whom you have to hear, understand, give them a realistic offer and then work with them hand in hand in the election to fix things for the better. If you really want to know, my views are the closest to those of Slavisa and Dragana Mijatovic. Slavisa is our hero and a veteran of the Guard Brigade, and Dragana is the mother of eight children. I choose to be in direct contact with people, not on Facebook or from a helicopter.

• The Russian embassy recently reacted and stressed it was not threatening BiH due to the the Federation (FBiH) possibly moving closer to NATO. Do you think the RS should support the Federation's membership in NATO?

- Just as the Republic of Serbia and President Vucic will never and at no cost do anything to endanger the interests of the RS, so the RS must not make any such major decision that conflicts the motherland.

• Where do you see the RS in the next five years?

- As a piedmont of Serbdom. But not in the historical sense of how the phrase is used. Let us make the piedmont out of the RS like the one in Italy. The border area of ​​the Italian people, which is the most beautiful and most developed. The RS has resources, people, beauty and knowledge to make it happen for the entire Serb people. It starts with the changes next year.

(Telegraf.rs)