The rhetoric of dismantling state institutions is “not acceptable” and contrary to progress BiH has made since the war, the head of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia, Kathleen Kavalec, said ahead of a session where MPs in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity will be discussing whether to initiate the process of formally withdrawing the entity from a number of state institutions.

Bosnia’s Republika Srpska entity National Assembly (NSRS) is to discuss the “return of entity competencies” transferred to the state level after the war on Friday – an initiative for the semi-autonomous Serb-majority entity to withdraw from those institutions and form its own separate ones. This includes the army and tax authority.

Kavalec said that the defence law that was adopted in 2005 was “probably one of the greatest achievements after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” as well as the establishment of the BiH Armed Forces.

“The BiH army has been a source of stability and security, not only in BiH, which is important to note, but they have also contributed to security internationally, through their participation in international peacekeeping missions, which should be a source of great pride I think for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she said.

“We think that the use of rhetoric suggesting dismantling state institutions that were created by consensus with all three constituent people is not acceptable and it is important to focus instead on dialogue and reconciliation,” Kavalec said.

She explained that the role of the OSCE after the conflict has been to promote “confidence-building measures and also risk reduction activities” and that it has “a strong interest in supporting the ongoing functionality of state institutions.”

“Any actions in this direction are unacceptable and go contrary to the agreements and the success and achievements of the last 25 years,” she said.