Bosnian Serb leader: We never agreed to send the ANP to NATO

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The implication that an Agreement Bosnia’s political leaders signed in an effort to finally form a government includes sending Bosnia’s Annual National Programme (ANP) to NATO in any form is false, Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik said on Wednesday.

Dodik and his party do not want Bosnia to take any steps that may bring the country closer to NATO membership, and sending the ANP represents such a step.

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The issue is at the centre of the deadlock in forming Bosnia’s government after the October 2018 election.

The leaders of the three right-wing parties which won that election signed an Agreement including 12 principles last Monday in an effort to overcome the deadlock.

One of the principles mentions Bosnia’s relationship with NATO, but is vaguely written and Dodik and his Bosniak and Croat counterparts interpret it differently.

The Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (SDA) earlier said that the only solution to overcome the deadlock is to adopt and send a modified version of the ANP which suits all sides in Bosnia.

Rejecting a compromise on the issue will damage the government formation process and Bosnia’s Euro-Atlantic integration, and will pull the country into the biggest post-war crisis yet, the SDA said.

“I call upon them in the SDA and all others as well to closely read article three of the Agreement and to figure out that such a formulation does not exist there. We are prepared to implement the agreement we signed, but not to implement what someone might interpret was signed,” Dodik said.