PM Orbán gets controversial award in Bosnia: Croatians, Bosnians may be outraged – UPDATED

Borjana Kristo, Bosnia’s prime minister, met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to discuss Bosnia-Herzegovina’s EU integration in Sarajevo in Thursday, the Bosnian government has said on its website.

Kristo highlighted good cooperation between two friendly countries, according to a statement. She welcomed the work of the mixed economic committee, saying there was “room and demand” for expansion of bilateral trade.

The Bosnian prime minister thanked Orbán and the Hungarian diplomacy “for the firm and unconditional support to Sarajevo on its road to Europe”.

At the end of the talks, Kristo highlighted the need to continue good economic cooperation between the two countries.

Orbán and Dodik in Budapest. Photo: facebook.com/orbanviktor

Hungarian and international press wrote that Orbán would receive “the Order of Republika Srpska during his visit to Bosnia on Thursday and Friday, joining Vladimir Putin in the recipients’ club.” The decoration is the top award of the Republika Srpska, RS, the country’s Serb-dominated entity. The Order of Republika Srbska is an award commemorating the foundation of the RS, so Bosnians and Croatians might be outraged if Orbán accepts it. In 2023, President Putin got it.

“We have very concrete projects, and we have concrete conversations about how we cooperate and respect the leadership that Orbán has shown,” Dodik said in a post. “He is one of the strongest European leaders now within the European Union and… it is an honour for us,” he added as reported by Balkan Insight.

UPDATE: Orbán pledges continued support to Bosnian Serbs

Bosnia’s Serb community can rely on Hungary’s continued support as “the two nations depend on each other”, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Banja Luka where he was presented a state award on Friday.

Orbán received the Order of Merit of the Republika Srpska from Milorad Dodik, the president of the autonomous Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Orbán said it was an honour to receive the award, “an expression of friendship, trust and mutual optimism for the future”.

Photo: FB/Viktor Orbán

Speaking of the European Union, he said the bloc “lacks the recognition that it needs Serbs, that there is no European security and stability, and no healthy European Union without Serbs”.

He called international politics “unfair and demeaning to Serbs” and said he had always stood up for them in international forums.

“While the EU has a lot of problems, there is currently no better international framework for nations to grow stronger,” he said.

During its EU presidency starting on July 1, Orbán said Hungary would appoint a team dedicated to issues connected to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The decision on Bosnia and Serbia’s integration should have been made long ago; that decision was “pushed to the back seat by the fever dream of an enlargement in the East,” he added.

He said Hungary stood by concluding the enlargement procedure in the Western Balkans and then moving on to “the more difficult and complicated eastern issue”.

Orbán also objected to what he called attempts to influence Bosnian issues from abroad. “The procedure could lose momentum and lead to a political crisis, devaluing Europe’s work.” Foreign influence is “bad for everyone, for Europe, the Serbs and Bosnia”, he said.

Hungary sees the Western Balkans as a region “with a great future”, and important investment opportunities in the Republika Srpska, he said.

He praised bilateral ties between the two countries, including financial cooperation and an agricultural support scheme.

In his laudation, Dodik said that the honour, presented on the occasion of the Day of Bosnia’s Serb Republic, was given to the Hungarian prime minister in recognition of his achievements in developing bilateral relations. He highlighted the friendship between the two nations and thanked Orbán for his continued support.

Dodik said they would strive for “expanding cooperation on a personal level” in universities, sports and tourism.

He called Hungary an example in its approach to the family and in preserving a traditional society.

“Europe needs strong leaders such as Viktor Orbán,” he said, and thanked him for “standing up for a fairer world”.

On Thursday, Orbán met Bosnian Prime Minister Borjana Kristo, and the leaders of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country’s other entity. He discusses improving bilateral ties and current European issues with Denis Becirovic, the Bosnian and Zeljko Komsic, the Croatian member of the Federation’s leadership. Kristo thanked Orbán for his “unwavering support to Sarajevo’s EU integration” and called for further economic cooperation.

UPDATE: Hungarian foreign minister says Hungary, Republika Sprska economic ties ‘unhindered by contested political issues’

There are no contested political issues between Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s autonomous Serbian Republic, and so nothing stands in the way of developing economic ties, Hungary’s foreign minister said in Banja Luka on Friday. In his opening speech at a business forum organised by Hungary and the Republika Sprska, Peter Szijjarto said recent years had been “unpredictable” due to consecutive crises.

“In such times, the importance of reliable cooperation grows such as the economic, trade and inter-corporation cooperation between Hungary and the Republika Sprska,” he said.

The 24 Hungarian companies who had 32 representatives attending the forum were working with cutting-edge technology and had “ample references and experience,” Szijjarto said. They could greatly contribute to the economic prosperity and technological development of the Republika Sprska, he added.

The companies represented at the forum were working with cutting-edge technology in water management, sustainable energy production, agriculture and machine manufacturing, Szijjarto said.

Read also:

• Hungary helps Bosnia and Herzegovina become an EU member – Read more HERE
• Hungary-Bosnia will deepen military cooperation