Our country is faced with the choice offeded by the democratic Western world, on the one hand, and the one offered by nationalist forces both inside and outside our countries, on the other hand. This is the conflict of democracy and progress with conservatism that take us back to the Middle Ages or totalitarianism.
The Europesan Union keeps both our countries in the lobby, but its door is not locked. We will cross the threshold easier and faster if we stick together. For the advancement of reform processes, the EU administration allocated 6 billion euros in grants for the Western Balkans. It depends on us whether we will use them. A favourable circumstance is that the Western Balkans have become an area of interest for the EU and the great powers in the reordering of global geostrategy. The stability of the Western Balkans is a guarantee of the stability of Europe. It is a historic opportunity that we can only miss due to our own fault. We need to abandon the irrational and destructive goals that led to the tragic war in our region, which destroyed economic infrastructure, impoverished our citizens and destroyed our cherished social and human values. It is high time to leave that evil in the past, preserve it in memory, but not allow it to hold us back in the future. Our civil society organizations wish to encourage state institutions, ruling and non-ruling parties and all civil organizations to go that way.
The main goal of the Conference is to raise the awareness of the importance of good neighbourly relations and to harmonize the positions that can be used to put pressure on the governing structures in our countries, so that the EU door can be opened as soon as possible, because we believe that this is in the interrest of all our citizens.
In order to achieve these goals, the Conference participants agreed on the following conclusions:
- Regional cooperation and linkage of all civil society actors in the region are of essential importance for the development and improvement of the relations between the states of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- We are determined and persistent in preserving the multi-ethnicity of our societies, the equality of all citizens and peoples, their religions and world views.
- We insist on deeper, stronger and comprehensive economic relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia as a vital prerequisite for strengthening the capacity of civil societies and the essential Europeanization of the region. Cooperation in building infrastructure facilities is especially important.
- In order to ensure that the new generations perceive Bosnia in a new way, we strongly advocate the establishment of a common cultural and educational area at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- We stand for the development of alternative and cultural areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia in order to create the necessary preconditions for pluralistic, creative and modern cultural policies.
- We resolutely reject the vision of the Serbian world which, by its very nature, represents the continuation of the Greater Serbia project. We advocate that Serbia’s approach to the development of relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina should primarily take place at the level of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This is why we demand from decision makers and political actors of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina:
- To immediately and without delay put all institutional capacities in the service of meeting the criteria for accession to the European Union and NATO Alliance. The Conference participants believe that the Serbian authorities and the authorities of the Republic of Srpska entity , which directly participates in the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are obstructing the process of Euro-Atlantic integration even though this is the only path in the interest of the citizens of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the entire Western Balkans.
- To accept the Berlin Process as a true and safe path towards the Europeanization of the Western Balkans, participate in defining its recommendations and make a full contribution to their implementatiion at the state level.
- To confirm the mutual recognition of the territorial integrity of both states and their sovereignty under an international agreement on the border and then to proceed with any corrections of administrative lines where it is possible and necessary to agree upon. We make it clear that the Republic of Srpska entity belongs to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and therefore secessionist threats and calls for unification with Serbia should be stopped. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia should be organized as democratic and civil states in which each of their peoples will enjoy full rights and freedoms in regard to their fundamental identity issues, and all citizens will enjoy full rights and freedoms in the entire territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
- To sign the Memorandum on the acceptance and implementation of all judgments of international courts which refer to both our countries. We especially point to the need to accept the judgments of the ICTY and the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which found Serbia responsible for failing to prevent genocide. The policy pursued by the Serbian authorities almost continuously over the last 30 years is retrograde and has disastrous consequences for the neighoburing countries they have destroyed. However, it is most disastrous for the Serbian citizens and the majority Serbian people.
- To have the state parliaments pass a joint declaration on a clear anti-fascist and anti-nationalist comitment and fight for fundamental human rights and freedoms.
- To affirm the cultural and identity pecularities of Sandžak as a historical region that represents the rich diversity of peoples and is therefore a bridge linking Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We especially encourage support for building the capacity of institutions, which will have a positive impact on the position and quality of the life of all peoples living in Sandžak.
- We particularly call on the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia an Herzegovina to implement the 2006 Council of Europe Resolution No. 1513, thus using it for making constitutional changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, because the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized in this way, has no potential for democratic development. The Conference participants hold that Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a sovereign and independent state and UN member, needs a completely new Constitution based on European democratic achievements and to be organized as a modern European state.
We recommend to the institutions of the European Union:
- To continue providing strong support to the accession process of all Western Balkan countries, coupled with consistent insistence on the implementation of all reform processes, especially with respect to the rule of law and and other fundamental principles without which a long-term regional stability is not possible.
- To insist – within the framework of the Berlin process and other mechanisms of regional cooperation that are carried out under the EU patronage – on the further steps in the process of reconciliation among the Western Balkan peoples and dealing with the past, as well as on regional economic cooperation.
- To allocate a portion of the funds from the financial support package for the Western Balkans for the creation and implementation of alternative cultural policies that will contribute to the restoration of a single cultural area and common cultural identity.
Conference Participants: Sonja Biserko, Helsinki Committee in Serbia, Mijat Lakićević, editor and publicist, Zoran Vuletić, GDF, Professor Dr Misala Pramenković, Bosniak National Council in Serbia, Bojana Selaković, EU Covent in Serbia, Aron Fuks, Belgrade Jewish Community, Čedomir Stojović, social activist, Aleksandar Popov, Centre for Regionalism, Jelena Stevančević, CSO activist, Damir Gruda, CSO activist, Dr Fuad Baćićanin, Bosniak National Council in Serbia, Professor Nenad Prokić, writer – observer at the Conference. Conference Participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Vladimir Andrić, “La Benevolencija“ Jewish Cultural and Educational Society, Zoran Jovanović, President of the Serbian Civic Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rajko Živković, Vice-President of the Serbian Civic Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Stipe Prlić, President of the Croatian National Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Professor Dr Ivo Komšić, member of the Board of the Croatian National Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Miro Lazović, Chair of the 1990 Parliamentary Forum, Emir Zlatar, Secretary General of the Council of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Professor Emeritus Kasim Trnka, Council of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aida Daguda, Director of the Civil Society Promotion Centre, Jakob Finci, appellant before the European Court for Human Rights, Academician Professor Dr Mirko Pejanović, Vice-Presaident of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Professor Dr Lada Sudiković, University of Sarajevo (UNSA), Dr Muamer Džananović, Institute for Research of Crimes Against Humanity and International Law, UNSA, Dr Draško Aćimović, former Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina and entrepeneur, and Adnan Kapo, Director of the Institute for Geopolitics, Economy and Security (IGES).
The Conference participants will forward the Conclusions to the media in their countries and acquaint the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, as well as the institutions of the European Union and the Office of the High Representtive in Bosnia and Herzegovina with them.
Sarajevo, 10 December 2023.