Republika Srpska prime minister Milorad Dodik has announced that during future debates on constitutional changes in Bosnia-Herzegovina he could insist on defining the country as a federation with a clearly defined right of its peoples to self-determination. In an interview with Sarajevo's daily Oslobodjenje of 27 May 2006, Dodik for the first time explicitly stated that the model of Montenegro's road to independence could be applied also to Bosnia-Herzegovina, or more precisely to its Serb entity.

Speaking about how Bosnia-Herzegovina should be organized after necessary constitutional changes, Dodik said that ‘the union should affirm the right to self-determination through the right to hold a referendum, which would be organized in line with democratic standards as defined by the European Union. This will give people the opportunity to decide what they think and want of Bosnia-Herzegovina,’ said Dodik, who is currently probably the most popular politician in the Serb entity. Without such a test of the public attitude, there can be no lasting stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina, he added.

Dodik described the current situation in the country as worse than before the break-out of the war in the early 1990s, adding that he was particularly dissatisfied with the implementation of the constitutional reforms agreed on earlier this year. ‘The people who live in Bosnia-Herzegovina believe less and less in the existing state model,’ he said.

The Office of the High Representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 26 May stated that Dodik had been cautioned not to urge a referendum based on the Montenegrin model.

Report issued by the Croatian News Agency HINA in Sarajevo, 27 May 2006