N1BOS — broadcast
20260917 153000 UTC
532 transcript segments
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[00:00:00] representatives of the largest companies from Bosnia and Herzegovina to try to create business
[00:00:04] opportunities for them, to simply be in constant contact with them, and in that
[00:00:08] context, I proposed the formation of an investment
[00:00:10] fund that would be formed at the level of Bosnia and
[00:00:14] Herzegovina, where, as a member of the presidency, I would be willing to
[00:00:17] organize and invite a large number of people who want to be more
[00:00:21] active from Bosnia and Herzegovina and from the
[00:00:24] diaspora who could do more, but they are simply not offered
[00:00:28] opportunities, everything is blocked, everything is stopped and we complain that it's not possible, I
[00:00:31] think we have to overcome that, it can, it must be possible, we must find a way
[00:00:35] to develop at least economically, for many political topics
[00:00:39] we will not find agreement and we will solve problems as
[00:00:42] best we know how, but that should not completely stop us in the development of
[00:00:46] infrastructure or economy, energy, these are things that are in everyone's
[00:00:50] interest, someone might say, you know this whole
[00:00:52] story about how the presidency is responsible for one, parliament for another, the council
[00:00:56] of ministers for a third, it's a system, it's a political system that functions as...
[00:01:00] a whole or it doesn't function at all, so the matter cannot be viewed like that,
[00:01:03] the presidency is part of the whole at the level of Bosnia and
[00:01:06] Herzegovina and our entire political system, in my opinion,
[00:01:09] is most responsible for leading processes, because members of the presidency
[00:01:13] receive the greatest support from the people, they receive the most votes. Yes, well,
[00:01:17] when you mention all these investments,
[00:01:20] economic development of the country, what about that, what
[00:01:24] is specifically in your program actually to
[00:01:27] offer young people to stay in this country, but... here are also entire
[00:01:30] families who unfortunately are increasingly leaving Bosnia and
[00:01:33] Herzegovina. There is a program of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina at several
[00:01:36] levels, for example, specifically related to the Canton of Sarajevo, the proposal
[00:01:40] is to build a thousand apartments for young people. Today, one of the biggest
[00:01:44] problems for young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is housing,
[00:01:47] we have a cantonal housing fund, that is an
[00:01:50] institution that used to build hundreds,
[00:01:53] dozens of apartments, thousands in Sarajevo, however, today it
[00:01:57] seems not to exist. I don't know when the last building was built
[00:02:01] by that public fund in Sarajevo. That is, for example, one of the
[00:02:04] proposals that everyone should support, to try to find a way for
[00:02:07] real estate, especially for young people for their first real estate, to be
[00:02:11] cheaper. These prices are inflation, which has been truly enormous in the past five, six, or
[00:02:15] more years. That is one of the issues that must be addressed, in addition
[00:02:19] to all these mm needs for our economy to develop, to
[00:02:23] provide opportunities for young people, they will
[00:02:25] surely find a place for themselves. We have, as
[00:02:29] a municipality, one... program of support for everyone who starts a business in Bosnia and
[00:02:32] Herzegovina, or in this case in Novi Grad,
[00:02:36] mm, so far more than 800 businesses have been formed in that
[00:02:39] way, over a thousand jobs, and interestingly,
[00:02:43] almost 90% of those businesses survive, continue to work,
[00:02:47] people who start businesses, start such ideas that
[00:02:50] succeed in finding their place in the market. We need that throughout Bosnia and
[00:02:54] Herzegovina, we need a friendly attitude
[00:02:57] towards business, towards agriculture.
[00:03:01] "towards forestry, all these areas have enormous potential,
[00:03:04] but the legislation and the framework in which they operate do not encourage
[00:03:08] them to work. We have to move on to other topics, the fight against corruption,
[00:03:11] the judiciary, what would be your concrete steps,
[00:03:15] proposals, to exclude political influence from
[00:03:18] the judiciary, primarily? I think that some mistakes were made when these
[00:03:22] laws on the HJPC on the judiciary of Bosnia and
[00:03:25] Herzegovina were adopted. We have a judiciary where at the top
[00:03:28] we have a high judicial and prosecutorial council that elects judges
[00:03:31] and prosecutors, and it is elected by judges and prosecutors
[00:03:35] from within through various prosecutor's offices, entity, cantonal,
[00:03:38] and some members are given by representatives of governments,
[00:03:41] entities, and so on. Essentially, the judiciary elects itself, the state does not have
[00:03:45] that direct influence, more members of the HJPC
[00:03:48] are elected by that very prosecutorial
[00:03:52] and judicial guild than by the state from any side, and the state fully
[00:03:56] pays for them, their budget is from the state and citizens. What is the...
[00:04:00] problem? The problem is that the judiciary and the prosecution are merged, which is a huge
[00:04:03] influence, so everywhere in the world it is separated, these are two sides in
[00:04:06] the process, judicial councils are specifically formed to appoint judges,
[00:04:10] prosecutors' offices are always partly administrative bodies,
[00:04:13] police, they are closer to those ministries of justice than
[00:04:16] to the judicial council itself in any country. It is difficult to even
[00:04:20] establish, to demand accountability from the state in such a system,
[00:04:24] because it is theoretically independent, but in
[00:04:27] reality it seems dependent on many things, and
[00:04:31] I think that it would have been legally necessary earlier for things
[00:04:34] not to unfold in such a way. Prosecutors' offices have enormous
[00:04:38] powers, is it at all possible in such
[00:04:41] political circumstances to actually do that, given
[00:04:44] that the judiciary is the cancer of our society 30
[00:04:48] years ago? I think that the greatest scope would be precisely for people
[00:04:52] in the judiciary, if they would devote themselves to professionalism, they need to
[00:04:55] be given support, if the law cannot be changed, they need to be given
[00:04:59] support. Material, technical, every other, and also
[00:05:03] political, public, every other, to adhere to professionalism,
[00:05:06] to implement the principles of professionalism
[00:05:09] through what they do, that would be a
[00:05:12] minimum, but there are numerous political influences on the work
[00:05:16] of the judiciary in Bosnia and Herzegovina, you know that the former
[00:05:19] president of the HJPC was Milan
[00:05:22] Tegeltija, an advisor to Milorad Dodik, imagine what kind of people he installed in
[00:05:26] the judiciary during the time he was present there, then we shouldn't
[00:05:29] be surprised, well, we shouldn't be surprised when
[00:05:33] the judiciary in some situations does not do its job.
[00:05:37] I think it would be best for someone who really wants to do something there to make
[00:05:41] a comprehensive analysis, a revision of the situation
[00:05:43] of the staffing of prosecutor's offices, courts, to create a
[00:05:47] strategy for action and work. I must just say something about one topic,
[00:05:51] the issue of war crimes. So, when the Hague Tribunal was closed,
[00:05:54] a list was submitted, these are cases
[00:05:58] in which the Hague Tribunal had already established that there was certain evidence for war
[00:06:02] crimes, but it did not have time to deal with them, so
[00:06:05] then, then the rest were,
[00:06:08] under the influence of certain policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the entire list was put on
[00:06:12] hold. "It seems to me that thousands of decisions
[00:06:15] to suspend those proceedings were made by the court in Doboj, just one
[00:06:18] court, then they moved on to
[00:06:22] some other cases that were not needed, could not be a priority, where The Hague
[00:06:25] did not say there was evidence, and today we have a lot
[00:06:29] of these trials mostly of members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which
[00:06:32] defended this state, unlike those
[00:06:36] category A where there were numerous criminals, numerous, so
[00:06:39] you have the absurdity that Goražde, which was besieged, in which children were killed, which was
[00:06:43] systematically destroyed for years, no one has been convicted
[00:06:47] by our judiciary, no one has been accused of the siege of Goražde,
[00:06:51] dozens accused of defense, for a city that was
[00:06:54] an enclave like Srebrenica, yes, well, we even had cases now
[00:06:58] which are, well, non-compliance,
[00:07:00] mistakes are paid for very dearly, someone here made
[00:07:04] a mistake and allowed the court to get so out of
[00:07:07] control or the judiciary in this part of war crimes trials to
[00:07:11] direct the entire work of that department
[00:07:14] for war crimes at the BiH court in the wrong direction, so when you look at the picture created
[00:07:18] by the BiH court with the number of cases, convictions, and so on, the picture created
[00:07:22] by the Hague Tribunal, it's as if they are talking about two different wars, two
[00:07:25] different situations, so the Hague Tribunal
[00:07:29] more than 85% of convictions relate to the army
[00:07:32] of the RS entity which committed genocide, and when you look at the BiH
[00:07:36] court, a completely different picture, so it is trying to
[00:07:39] relativize it, but one by one, the most important thing for us is that...
[00:07:42] we change the composition of the presidency itself, that we finally
[00:07:46] start behaving as if we have a head, that we behave
[00:07:49] purposefully, that we see where our biggest problems are and start
[00:07:52] solving them, at the same time we cannot leave some things, this
[00:07:56] to completely forget them, but economy,
[00:08:00] development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, administration,
[00:08:02] at the end also the judiciary and all other segments of our
[00:08:06] society must, we simply live in a time when there is
[00:08:09] a need for all of that to change, let's go. prevents
[00:08:13] me from talking about the next topic, state policy, blockades of European
[00:08:17] integration, how do we even see and witness
[00:08:20] the blockades of institutions in our country, well, here,
[00:08:24] most of the past, or still current mandate of the current
[00:08:27] government, how to overcome those
[00:08:30] blockades that slow down many processes in our
[00:08:32] country? This current government promised us the European Union, acceleration
[00:08:36] of the European path, but we haven't, we haven't seen anything of
[00:08:39] that. I can only say that from my... conversations with
[00:08:43] representatives of the European Union in Sarajevo, with representatives of several European embassies,
[00:08:47] there is a concern, but also surprise
[00:08:51] why we don't do more, why we don't try harder for
[00:08:54] Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the European Union.
[00:08:57] So, we absolutely belong in the European Union, we have some false
[00:09:01] dilemmas about where Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs, whether it should turn to the East or
[00:09:05] the West. We are part of Europe, we cannot be anywhere else, we are not
[00:09:09] yet part of the European Union, we must do everything in our power to
[00:09:12] meet the necessary conditions. In this mandate, we had some attempts
[00:09:16] to deceive, some laws that give us less than we had, even
[00:09:19] an adopted law on border control that is worse than the previous one,
[00:09:23] under the guise of fighting for accession to the European Union. We neither
[00:09:27] accessed the European Union, we already know that, but that law
[00:09:31] brought more problems than, for example, those
[00:09:34] entity signs are now legalized right on the border of Bosnia
[00:09:38] and Herzegovina. That was one of those laws that they presented to us, presented
[00:09:41] as European. "But definitely, we
[00:09:44] have no choice but to join the European Union as long
[00:09:48] as it exists, it has its problems, nobody denies
[00:09:51] that, but our foreign policy orientation is not natural to remain
[00:09:55] surrounded by the European Union and to be outside the European Union. Why didn't we
[00:09:59] join the European Union? The parties that signed the coalition,
[00:10:02] appointed governments at the level of the Council of Ministers, they quickly agreed
[00:10:06] how and where everyone would sit, who would take which position, that had to be
[00:10:10] agreed in a package, it had to be agreed.
[00:10:13] and policy towards the European Union, fulfilling priorities, and then
[00:10:17] distributing positions. It's too late when you give someone a position, the recent
[00:10:20] statement by the president of our party, Sebina Ćudić, I assume you saw it, she now
[00:10:24] says that when... a new government is formed,
[00:10:27] first laws, then positions. Sabina remembered
[00:10:30] too late, we talked about it four years ago, we told the
[00:10:34] 'troika' parties that they should form a government with the opposition from Republika Srpska, but they went with
[00:10:38] Dodik, and now they see that it doesn't work that way. What did they think, that he would lead them
[00:10:41] to the European Union, but if they hadn't appointed Tegeltija to the indirect
[00:10:45] taxation authority, if they had conditioned him and
[00:10:49] asked him to resolve some other things like these European
[00:10:52] laws, then it would have been different, but they fulfilled all their obligations, did everything Dodik
[00:10:56] asked, then they are not clear. I, I could
[00:11:00] say, just say, just say, I wonder, Sabina,
[00:11:03] I wonder why you only now realized that
[00:11:07] there is a problem with Dodik. When we spoke, they told me that we were calculating something,
[00:11:10] trading and so on, when we said that Dodik should withdraw the laws
[00:11:13] on immovable property before continuing
[00:11:17] talks with him, but the 'troika' parties wanted to go. The last mandate was also a great
[00:11:21] opportunity, a government could have been formed without the SNSD,
[00:11:25] mathematically and without the HDZ.
[00:11:27] The HDZ could have been brought to heel,
[00:11:31] a government did not have to be formed without it, but it did not have to get as much
[00:11:34] as it got, all of it could have gone differently if there had been enough political
[00:11:38] wisdom from the parties that had results. But this current government
[00:11:42] says that it was not possible when we talk about the 'troika', they just
[00:11:45] claim that it was not possible because of the House of Peoples. What did the House
[00:11:49] of Peoples do in this mandate? The entire mandate was blocked anyway, so the
[00:11:53] House of Peoples does not participate in the formation of the Council of Ministers. Only the presidency and
[00:11:56] parliament participate, the House
[00:11:59] of Peoples from all sides, we cannot talk about it now,
[00:12:03] it is not related to the formation of the government, so a government could have been formed,
[00:12:06] the Council of Ministers, without any problems, without the SNSD and Milorad
[00:12:09] Dodik, if the parties had wanted to, but they, well,
[00:12:13] they wanted to have a majority in the House of Peoples, so we saw how they had it, they didn't have it
[00:12:16] for the entire mandate, they didn't have a House of Peoples that could pass any
[00:12:20] quality law. I have to speed up, foreign policy and international relations, one of the competencies
[00:12:23] of the presidency is the appointment of ambassadors and other international representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
[00:12:27] I assume you have heard what the HDZ candidate,
[00:12:31] Dragana, Darjana Filipović, plans to do if she
[00:12:34] gets the mandate, which is the recall of a large number of ambassadors and, as
[00:12:38] she says, to restore balance to the diplomatic and consular network, as well as
[00:12:41] reopening the office of the Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina in
[00:12:44] Mostar. How do you comment on that? Given that the HDZ did not
[00:12:48] have a member of the presidency, it's not to expect anything else but for them to demand that
[00:12:51] ambassadors be HDZ members
[00:12:53] and... that doesn't surprise me from her. If she wins, it wouldn't
[00:12:57] surprise me, but one should know that she cannot appoint an ambassador alone,
[00:13:01] that the second and third members of the presidency must also vote for it.
[00:13:05] Discussions must begin differently there. Let them be, it's not
[00:13:08] a problem for a Croat to be an ambassador, but if it's someone who is already publicly
[00:13:12] acting against this country, they cannot get my vote if I am
[00:13:15] in the presidency, nor can the one in the Council of Ministers. So,
[00:13:19] it doesn't matter, my candidate doesn't even have to be under
[00:13:23] quotation marks "mine" or a candidate who... "I propose as a member of the presidency, well, if it's
[00:13:27] about a Bosniak, I accept that it's not
[00:13:30] only my will, but that others express their opinion about him, but they should express their opinion about his
[00:13:34] references, qualities, whether he can
[00:13:37] represent Bosnia and Herzegovina, because he represents all of Bosnia and Herzegovina, represents
[00:13:40] everyone, and in that context an agreement should then be sought, it will be in
[00:13:44] everyone's interest to appoint ambassadors, but certain criteria
[00:13:47] need to be set and approached a little differently than before, I have a feeling
[00:13:51] that it was completely divided, yours to you, mine to me, in quotation
[00:13:55] marks, then we get ambassadors who, in embassies where
[00:13:58] they are representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a salary from Bosnia and
[00:14:01] Herzegovina, make statements against this country,
[00:14:05] that is something that should not be happening to us. Yes, defense,
[00:14:09] security, armed forces, and excuse me, I must add something else, this mandate, when it comes to
[00:14:12] diplomacy, we got an entity on the international scene, we are talking
[00:14:16] about the RS entity, that is a big problem, because according to
[00:14:20] the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Dayton, the entity has absolutely no competencies for
[00:14:24] foreign affairs. The entity, mm,
[00:14:27] since the country is poorly structured and organized, has no ability to
[00:14:30] prevent these things, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in this case, the
[00:14:34] Ministry of Foreign Affairs could have warned the other
[00:14:37] side, whoever comes into contact with one of the lower levels of government
[00:14:41] in Bosnia and Herzegovina, bypassing the state, that this
[00:14:44] is not a friendly relationship with our country, that such cannot count on an
[00:14:48] unfriendly relationship with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has become
[00:14:51] almost normal for entities to conduct foreign
[00:14:55] policy. There was a case when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary came
[00:14:58] to Banja Luka and then to Sarajevo, and here he was received by everyone as Minister of Foreign Affairs. So,
[00:15:02] there was an example when the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia similarly
[00:15:06] stopped by East Sarajevo, but the members of the presidency did not receive him then
[00:15:10] because the order was reversed, he should have first come to the presidency and then gone to some parts
[00:15:14] of the state. In this mandate, in my opinion, the biggest diplomatic problem in
[00:15:18] the field of diplomacy is that entities, even
[00:15:21] the Federation, had some visits
[00:15:23] uh... which resemble diplomatic visits outside Bosnia and
[00:15:27] Herzegovina without the participation of state bodies. That
[00:15:30] is something, if we want to take care of the state, then it must first and foremost conduct foreign
[00:15:34] affairs, that can include lower levels of government, but that... lower levels
[00:15:38] of government cannot do it alone, and we must conclude. Finally,
[00:15:41] defense, security, armed forces, what are your priorities
[00:15:45] in maintaining the internal security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, given the tensions we have
[00:15:49] had recently, and secessionist
[00:15:52] rhetoric, well, numerous challenges when it comes to regional
[00:15:56] stability. One of the points I brought up as
[00:16:00] part of the vision for the work of a future member of the presidency is precisely
[00:16:03] security and defense. The presidency has the role of supreme commander
[00:16:06] of the armed forces according to our legislation, and it has a very important
[00:16:10] role in appointing generals within the armed
[00:16:13] forces. I believe that generals should be appointed
[00:16:17] who will have a doctrine of defending the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and increasing
[00:16:21] its security, who will
[00:16:23] transmit that doctrine to all soldiers. We cannot in vain, our army
[00:16:27] is not a fire brigade, it is commendable that they
[00:16:30] put out fires, but first of all it must have military, combat readiness,
[00:16:33] both material and human, and for that portion
[00:16:37] of the money that we allocate, we should at least have a little sense of security that we have
[00:16:40] armed forces that are capable of defending this
[00:16:43] country. Such generals will be able to get my support to lead the armed
[00:16:47] forces, to lead processes within them.
[00:16:50] A big problem is the equipping of the army, we have a large
[00:16:53] armament of neighboring countries, an arms race similar to what was characteristic
[00:16:56] of some pre-war times, and no response from Bosnia and
[00:17:00] Herzegovina. The Presidency of the country almost 10 years ago,
[00:17:03] adopted a program that
[00:17:06] entailed significant material and technical equipping of the armed forces,
[00:17:10] almost none of that happened, so it stayed where
[00:17:13] it is, problems are also with uniforms, buying boots for soldiers, let alone
[00:17:17] some modern quality
[00:17:19] weapons, so the budget for the armed forces would be increased, sometimes of course
[00:17:23] the process itself, the processes within the armed forces, I have
[00:17:27] information that the money that is received for
[00:17:30] increasing material and technical readiness for the procurement of weapons and military
[00:17:34] equipment is spent on salaries, mm... "Sometimes
[00:17:38] talking about the army and these
[00:17:40] things can seem dangerous and so on, but it is important to know
[00:17:44] that an enemy is always attracted to weakness, whoever is weak
[00:17:48] and feeble is always in greater danger than whoever has
[00:17:51] any strength, that must be taken into account, and police agencies in Bosnia and
[00:17:55] Herzegovina, and the defense industry, and the entire system including civil protection
[00:17:59] together with the armed forces must be integrated, and this should be
[00:18:03] the concern, among other things, of a member of the presidency. Mr. Efendić, we are at the end of
[00:18:06] the conversation, a minute for..." the end, to address your voters, why should
[00:18:09] they vote for you as a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina? I
[00:18:13] believe that this is an opportunity for Bosnia and Herzegovina, that it is an opportunity for all citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in
[00:18:17] this case, citizens of the Federation have the right to vote for the presidency,
[00:18:21] to begin an era of change, to move Bosnia and
[00:18:24] Herzegovina forward together, by voting for the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, for its
[00:18:28] program and for candidates at all levels, from the presidency
[00:18:31] to the level of cantonal assemblies. The Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina will
[00:18:34] take responsibility, I, knowing how... I have worked so
[00:18:38] far, believe that at other levels the results will be
[00:18:41] such that in future cycles there will be no need for me to explain so much to the citizens,
[00:18:45] they will know the results of my work, just as they knew my
[00:18:48] results where I have worked so far. Good luck in the elections
[00:18:52] and thank you for this interview. Thank you, dear viewers, that was Semir
[00:18:56] Efendić, candidate of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina for a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and
[00:18:59] Herzegovina from the Bosniak people, stay tuned to Dan
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[00:21:44] New state elections await Germany on Sunday. After Saxony
[00:21:47] Anhalt, voters will vote in Mecklenburg-Western
[00:21:51] Pomerania and Berlin. Can this eastern wave and
[00:21:55] the momentum of the AfD unstoppable spill over into those elections?
[00:21:58] How much does the strengthening of Eurosceptic radical forces in Germany
[00:22:01] weaken the position of the European Union? About the political situation in Bosnia and
[00:22:05] Herzegovina, but also in the Western Balkans, I continue the conversation with
[00:22:08] Josip Juratović, former member of the Bundestag. Mr.
[00:22:12] Juratović, good day and welcome to the N1
[00:22:14] Television program. Good day and thank you for the invitation.
[00:22:18] Let's immediately comment on this victory of the AfD in Saxony
[00:22:22] and Anhalt and the fact that the traditional national
[00:22:25] conservative CDU camp actually experienced such a drastic
[00:22:28] decline. Can we even talk about
[00:22:32] the beginning of a new political era in
[00:22:35] Germany here?
[00:22:38] Unfortunately, it turned
[00:22:40] out and confirmed what I already saw when I was
[00:22:44] in the Bundestag regarding Friedrich Merz, that
[00:22:47] he is a relatively
[00:22:51] weak politician, and it turned out that he is even
[00:22:54] the weakest chancellor we have had so far in Germany,
[00:22:58] who came out
[00:23:01] on the stage with the
[00:23:04] message that he would halve the AfD, unfortunately he halved
[00:23:07] the CDU and doubled the AfD, so
[00:23:11] that, uh, at least as far as the polls are concerned, in the next
[00:23:15] two elections, one is in Berlin and the other is in
[00:23:18] Mecklenburg Fopolmanu.
[00:23:20] it will also be very difficult for
[00:23:23] CDU, most likely the Left
[00:23:26] will win in Berlin, in in Mecklenburg
[00:23:30] omanu we hope that the SPD will still manage
[00:23:34] to win, although according
[00:23:37] to polls they are somewhat
[00:23:40] tied, this is a very serious
[00:23:43] story, because first of all, as far as the AfD is concerned, it is
[00:23:47] not a political party but... first and foremost a
[00:23:51] movement that wants
[00:23:54] to use instruments or abuse the instruments of
[00:23:57] democratic instruments of democratic values,
[00:24:00] freedoms and rights, in order to abolish precisely that, namely
[00:24:04] they are nationalists,
[00:24:07] that is,
[00:24:09] a movement that wants not only here in Germany, but
[00:24:13] in the meantime also throughout the world, that wants
[00:24:17] precisely those democratic values for which we have... for decades
[00:24:20] and centuries, I would even say, fought
[00:24:23] to abolish.
[00:24:26] So, since you mentioned these elections on Sunday, what would this
[00:24:30] eventual new triumph of the far-right mean for
[00:24:33] the balance of power in the German
[00:24:37] federal parliament, actually, that is,
[00:24:38] the Bundestag.
[00:24:41] nothing from the beginning, uh, namely, these are
[00:24:44] state elections which will somewhat influence
[00:24:48] the...
[00:24:50] so-called Bundesrat, i.e. the federal
[00:24:52] council, which still influences
[00:24:56] 2/3 of the legislation, but they won't even have
[00:24:59] a majority there, however, the fact is that
[00:25:02] a government that has such low public approval,
[00:25:05] simply isn't sustainable, I think Merz will have to
[00:25:09] uh, next week,
[00:25:12] if not resign as chancellor, he will have to break up
[00:25:16] this government, it is speculated that
[00:25:20] "he would prefer to go into a minority government, that would mean that
[00:25:23] with that minority government, he would
[00:25:27] try to lead the country in such a way that he would
[00:25:31] be dependent on everyone and everything, everything, and
[00:25:34] that is not sustainable,
[00:25:37] the other alternative is that someone else from the CDU
[00:25:40] will practically have to step into his place,
[00:25:43] now there is talk of Söder from Bavaria or Wüst from
[00:25:46] North Rhine-Westphalia, who are from a conservative point of view, nothing
[00:25:50] but the most successful, in any case, this government
[00:25:53] as it is now cannot survive. So,
[00:25:57] as a long-time politician and parliamentarian who fights
[00:26:01] for democratic values, what do you actually
[00:26:04] consider to be the key mistake that democratic parties in
[00:26:08] Germany are making, which allows the AfD to
[00:26:11] attract such a truly large number of, well, we can now say,
[00:26:15] frustrated voters?
[00:26:18] First, I want to say that uh this movement
[00:26:21] is not a specific German movement, but a movement across Europe regarding
[00:26:25] the democratic system and
[00:26:28] the functioning of the European Union. It
[00:26:32] actually emerged uh then
[00:26:35] through the financial crisis mm regarding
[00:26:38] the stability of the euro
[00:26:42] and this one which transformed into a
[00:26:45] nationalist movement, but in any case
[00:26:48] a European problem, of democratic parties, you are
[00:26:52] right, in fact there are two factors, this is
[00:26:55] now my personal observation and experience in my last 20 years
[00:26:58] of work, first of all democracy is simply...
[00:27:02] totally misunderstood, democracy
[00:27:06] does not consist only of rights and freedoms, but it
[00:27:09] also consists of responsibility and social responsibility
[00:27:13] that people themselves must take on and bear
[00:27:16] themselves, we have promised people too much,
[00:27:19] what we will do for them, in the
[00:27:22] end it is logical it was not possible uh, those
[00:27:25] promises could not be fulfilled and then people lost trust
[00:27:29] in politics, that actually uh we did not
[00:27:32] manage to explain that our system works in such a way that we can
[00:27:36] only implement what people are willing to bear and
[00:27:39] bear, that means positive and negative
[00:27:43] things so that society can be stable, here
[00:27:47] a political culture arose
[00:27:50] like when we are in a department store and
[00:27:53] then please choose what suits you, we will enable
[00:27:57] everything for you, that is not possible, especially in this global situation
[00:28:01] we are currently in. this is now coming back to haunt us, so
[00:28:05] when you mention that global situation, given that the AfD's program largely
[00:28:09] conflicts with the current foreign policy of the European Union,
[00:28:12] especially on the issue of relations with Russia and support
[00:28:15] for Ukraine, what could be the long-term
[00:28:19] consequences if this regional trend actually grows into a federal ruling
[00:28:23] alternative?
[00:28:25] In fact, the policy pursued by the AfD and
[00:28:28] similar parties within the European Union we see in America.
[00:28:32] "we see in Russia, we see in all autocratic
[00:28:34] states, uh, so, what will
[00:28:38] change, they will try to trade with everyone
[00:28:42] among themselves in the end all values,
[00:28:46] that is, all principles we had on the international scene and rules
[00:28:49] of the game will lose absolute value, we already
[00:28:52] notice this in the politics, the politics of Trump,
[00:28:56] i.e. Putin and so on, so there will be general
[00:28:59] chaos, I have been warning for many years..."
[00:29:02] Balkanization of the European European Union,
[00:29:06] namely that at one point the European
[00:29:10] Union will turn
[00:29:11] into
[00:29:14] a zone where in the end if such structures
[00:29:18] come to power, they will always look for culprits either within
[00:29:22] society itself or culprits outside society, we already experienced
[00:29:25] this with the breakup of Yugoslavia, so
[00:29:28] this is a great danger, we urgently
[00:29:32] need a counter-movement, the United States of Europe, it is clear
[00:29:35] to me that we will not have
[00:29:38] imati
[00:29:40] all 27 at once in that, those
[00:29:43] United States, but at least those key countries
[00:29:47] for the survival of Europe, these are
[00:29:50] Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Italy, it doesn't
[00:29:53] matter, they can be smaller countries that will be
[00:29:56] ready to create a common European government on foreign policy,
[00:30:00] on economy, on various topics
[00:30:04] and where that government
[00:30:07] will practically represent the European Union externally, then from a
[00:30:10] position of strength at the same eye level
[00:30:13] we can protect the interests
[00:30:16] of the European Union at the same eye level with America, with
[00:30:20] America, Russia and China and
[00:30:23] others, i.e. other
[00:30:26] actors, if we don't succeed, then I'm
[00:30:30] afraid there will be disarray in Europe, God forbid, and
[00:30:34] even worse,
[00:30:36] so, can such a development of events in Germany specifically
[00:30:40] weaken the role of this country as a key political
[00:30:44] leader of the European Union, you mentioned the Balkans earlier and what consequences
[00:30:48] could all this have for the countries of the Western
[00:30:51] Balkans?
[00:30:53] Well, first of all, uh Germany regarding the European Union,
[00:30:57] Germany is the strongest.