KOVAČEVIĆ: OPPOSITION SHOULD AT LEAST ONCE SIDE WITH SRPSKA PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, SEPTEMBER 2 /SRNA/ – SNSD spokesperson Radovan Kovačević called on the opposition, instead of attacking the Republika Srpska Government, to at least once side with its own people, given, as he noted, that they remain silent about more than 60,000 criminal complaints from Sarajevo filed against Serbs, as well as BiH Presidency Chairman Denis Bećirović’s appeal directed against Republika Srpska.

Kovačević said that criminal complaints were being filed against Serbs because the Serb people refuse to disappear and be punished. “Bećirović has filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court of BiH seeking to prevent Republika Srpska from exercising its constitutional right to a veto when Republika Srpska is outvoted. We see that no one from the opposition has spoken out,” Kovačević said. Kovačević said that today SDS Leader Branko Blanuša appeared to attack, of all things, the Republika Srpska Government. “That is today’s opposition that we have to deal with. I have to say that we had already become a little worried and had forgotten who this Branko Blanuša was. We were wondering where he was. Today he appeared. I would say that he did not come, but that he was brought in. He was brought in by experienced, longtime opposition figures such as Igor Radojičić. Whether it is amusing or serious, let people judge themselves,” Kovačević told RTRS. He recalled that opposition representatives claimed today that Republika Srpska was excessively indebted, forgetting that they too had once been in power. “When they were in power, Republika Srpska’s total GDP was BAM five billion, while their debt was BAM three billion, which amounted to 55 percent of GDP. That was when Srpska was indebted,” Kovačević specified. Kovačević said that, on the other hand, Republika Srpska’s GDP today is around BA 20 billion, while its debt is less than BAM seven billion, or approximately 36–37 percent of GDP. “Then they tell us that Republika Srpska is excessively indebted,” Kovačević stressed. He added that the investment cycle in Republika Srpska had now exceeded BAM 7.6 billion, with investments from Novi Grad to Trebinje being made in road, construction and energy infrastructure. “This is unprecedented for Republika Srpska. On the one hand, these are the facts, while on the other hand, the opposition is coming out with nonsense and drivel simply for the sake of saying something,” Kovačević said. Kovačević told the opposition to try to come up with something more clever because, as he said, what they are talking about makes no sense. “Let them try, at least once, to side with the people of Republika Srpska,” Kovačević said.