DODIK: APPLAUSE IN BUDAPEST REFLECTS RECOGNITION OF FREEDOM

BANJA LUKA, MARCH 22 /SRNA/ - SNSD leader Milorad Dodik has stated that participants at yesterday’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Budapest, following strong words of support from Prime Minister Viktor Orban, applauded not only him but also freedom.

"It was also applause for freedom, for the struggle for rights, which they recognized in me yesterday. That means a lot to a person," Dodik said. He noted that the conference gathered important political leaders, was followed in the United States, and had an audience of millions. "Orban is a man who has been familiar with the details from the very beginning. I had the opportunity to inform him and ask for advice. Few people know that he is a political philosopher-his policy has both purpose and substance," Dodik stressed for RTRS. Dodik said that Orban represents an example of rational politics that, in his view, Brussels is undermining. "The EU today no longer has the values on which it was founded; it is engaged in censorship. The censorship coming from Brussels is more severe and more insidious than that of the communist era. This is eroding Europe’s authority. Predictability is very important, and that predictability has been destroyed in the EU," Dodik said. According to him, the EU is trying to confront dissenting views, impose positions on states and give excessive importance to so-called non-governmental organizations, thereby damaging the political environment. "The current EU policy has made Europe insecure in terms of energy supply. Some structures in Brussels are already considering what to do with refugees from the Middle East and are discussing opening the borders. So why was Orban criticized when he closed the borders to migrants? Why were we condemned?" Dodik stated. He questioned what would have happened in security and other terms in Banja Luka and its surroundings if Republika Srpska had allowed a refugee camp in Zalužani, which was expected to host between 8,000 and 12,000 people. "The EU has disrupted the natural balance of the world; they have become unreliable. Until the return of Donald Trump, it was unclear what was left and what was right-now that distinction is re-emerging and becoming clearer," Dodik said. He added that there is now a political division between patriots and liberals, whom he described as being on the verge of national betrayal. "For me, it is not unacceptable to be a nationalist; what is unacceptable is to be a chauvinist. Being a nationalist does not mean you hate others, but that you respect everyone who respects their own people and does not impose their will on others. Serbs have never imposed anything on others," Dodik said.