Dodik: Strong Serbia is key to Republika Srpska's existence

BELGRADE - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said on Saturday that a powerful Serbia was crucial for the existence of Republika Srpska (RS) within Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Serbia got "a powerful government and institutions" after the snap parliamentary poll, Dodik told a joint news conference after a meeting with Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

He congratulated the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) on their victory in the election, stressing that "it is an important breath of fresh air in political terms."

He stated that as leader of the Party of Independent Social Democrats of RS, he would be willing to sign a cooperation agreement with the SNS on issues that should be addressed by the authorities of both Serbia and RS.

He said he had discussed with Vucic ways in which to speed up the procedure of granting Serbian citizenship to RS citizens, but that they had also discussed dual citizenship.
"If the Hungarians and Bosniaks are entitled to dual citizenship, why cannot we have the same right," Dodik wondered.

Commenting on the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, he said that nothing was functioning on the federal level and accused the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (the Bosniak and Croatian political entity in the country) of obstructing Bosnia-Herzegovina's EU integration, and thereby RS's as well.

The Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina do not feel comfortable and the country costs RS more than it should, he stressed. "They (the government in Sarajevo) have no solution. They block everything and strengthen our conviction that we do not belong there," the RS president noted.
"Sarajevo is the key of the problems, political problems," Dodik stated, stressing that "that is...