Second nationality as a safety belt.

More than 50,000 citizens of the entity Republika Srpska have requested citizenship of Serbia.

The statement of the General Consul of Serbia in Banja Luka, Vladimir Nikolic, that more than 50,000 people from the area of BH. entity Republika Srpska sought Serbian citizenship a little she was surprised. The poor economic situation and the lack of perspective, which have been in the RS for years, are the most common reasons why citizens decide to seek the citizenship of another country, and the fact that they increasingly decide to submit a request to get the Serbian passport equally speaks of an unreserved political - the economic situation in BiH and the better positioning of Serbia in the political spectrum of this part of Europe.

The process of outgoing bh. citizens began in the years of war when a large number of citizens of the country accepted the citizenship of the countries they came to be refugees and continued in the post-war period when, for the most part, citizens of the Croatian nationality, for various reasons, accepted the citizenship of neighboring Croatia, says a political analyst from Luke Luke Srdjan Puhalo, referring to the main cause of BH. The Croats for taking a Croatian passport were the possibility of a free trip.

Difficult economic situation, reserve plan
When it comes to motives that citizens of the Republic of Srpska have recently applied in such a massive number for Serbian citizenship, they state several reasons.

"We now have this phenomenon that a large number of Serbs - 50,000 have requested, or obtained Serbian citizenship, and this can be interpreted in different ways. It's very difficult to say what is the main motive, but in any case, we can think about a few things. On the one hand, you have a policy in the RS that has been problematizing BiH as a state and challenges its statehood, and it has not lasted for ten years since yesterday. I believe this is one of the reasons why people are seeking Serbian citizenship.

On the other hand, you have a large number of people who, because of the difficult economic situation, leave the RS and I think that they are also seeking citizenship simply to ease their life in Serbia. We do not have the information how many people from RS went to Serbia, but I believe that it is a large number. It is also a very important thing, and we must bear in mind the plump political situation that has been going on since '95, which certainly brings insecurity among the citizens as well as the people of the RS and that perhaps this request for citizenship is somewhere an exit strategy for the possibility of someone a new conflict. In other words, people say - I have a passport for Serbia, it's not an expensive investment, but it gives me confidence that tomorrow I can go somewhere as a citizen of Serbia. "

When trying to understand why so many citizens of the Republic of Srpska are trying to become a citizen of the neighboring country, one has to consider several things, says political analyst from Sarajevo, Ivana Marić. A similar process took place in the post-war years when BH. Croats were massively becoming citizens of the Republic of Croatia and, in her opinion, the reasons for the citizens of Republika Srpska are almost identical to those who have motivated citizens of Croatian nationality to accept the citizenship of another country. It's a personal interest more than an indefinable sense of patriotism, says Marić.

Spare plan

"A large number of BiH citizens have accepted Croatia's citizenship and some would call it patriotism towards Croatia, but in most cases there is some interest. In particular, this was significant in the period when the BiH passport had to be asked, waited and paid for, and it was uncertain that it was getting it, and that was the exit for BiH. Croats, but also all those who managed to get a passport. I think that the situation with the Serbian passport is similar, because it is only about BH patriotism. Serbs towards Serbia they would do it earlier because they were meeting the conditions. However, now this new momentum in Serbia under Vucic's leadership, which succeeded in imposing itself as a leader and who managed to sell it to foreigners, in particular the European Union and the Americans, feel that Serbia not only feels but also the fact that Serbia is progressing faster towards the EU than BiH.

And Maric, just like Puhalo, thinks that the mass search of Serbian passports is actually a way to provide a reserve plan in case the political or economic situation in BiH begins to deteriorate drastically.

"This is a clear sign that there is in fact a danger of the ship sinking, so people are being secured by placing security belts, and in this case, the security belt is a citizenship, that is, a passport in Serbia, so that they can have some way out in case anything happens in BiH , or that the economic situation continues to deteriorate. I do not think there will be war conflicts, because we have seen that at least here the international community reacts so that it stops at a time, but because of these conflicts politicians are suffering the economy and suffer citizens who in this way try to find some way out and probably hope that Serbia will enter in the EU so that they can also seek their own salvation in Germany, or some other European country. "

Corruption in all spheres of life

One of the reasons that can explain the phenomenon of such a large number of requests by Republika Srpska citizens to passports of another state is certainly widespread corruption in all social spheres, says Ivana Korajlic from Tansparency International. In what "chaos" is BiH most striking is the fact that citizens decide to seek a passport of a country that is not much better economically and socially than their mother country.

"On the one hand, this speaks of complete disappointment with one's own state. On the other hand, it talks about even taking and resorting to a Serbian passport, although Serbia is not in a much better situation than in BiH, which says that people here do not see that the state functions, that the system functions, they do not see any kind of security, especially in terms of employment . When you look at the structure of people leaving BiH, these are highly educated people who can not get a chance here because there are fewer jobs, and chances are getting politically similar or those with family ties. Anyone who wants to get a job in a fair way is more difficult for him. And because of the fact that they do not see that anything changes for the better and that anyone tries to secure the future of the state, the functioning of institutions of the system, healthcare, etc. - nothing works.

This phenomenon has no deeper political significance, is not politically conducted and talks about the situation in the two countries, and it is clear that Serbia did not in any way encourage the citizens of the Republic of Srpska to accept its citizenship, says Puhalo, explaining the behavior of his fellow citizens by the desire to acquire the Serbian citizenship provide themselves with a better life perspective.

Serbia does not motivate RS citizens

"First of all, I am not sure that the official policy of Serbia is the one that affirms or motivates people in RS to take their citizenship. First of all, we have not heard any open and public invitation, and on the other hand, it seems to me that Serbia and politics in Serbia are simply trying to go towards the European Union, or it is much more constructive towards the EU than it is, say, the authorities in Republika Srpska and I'm not sure that their policy can be interpreted today as an invitation to Serbs from the RS to take their citizenship. I believe that the motive is much more banal, that people estimate that in five or ten years, Serbia may be a much more prosperous and better country for life, a safer country for life than BiH and RS.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country in which problems are only produced and accumulated, and the political crisis has become a permanent social state, and while, in the atmosphere of constant disagreement, politicians struggling for pre-election points, citizens on their skin feel that the country sinks into an economic and political ambis, says Ivana Marić.

From the problems with the referendum on the country's entry into NATO, to the extremely problematic problematization of the construction of the Peljesac Bridge, BH. politicians lose their course, and in their mutual quarrels and public rhetorical competition, there is no room to mention the real problems of citizens. Therefore, explains Marić, the phenomenon of such massive search for Serbian passports should not surprise anyone:

"This tells us that in our economic situation, we can not stagnate, but we can even say and backward. We have seen the enthusiasm of the authorities waiting for the payment of a clearing debt. It saved them not to get out of the turmoil and especially to pay off debts to farmers and other debts. Though they claimed that this money would not cover the budget holes, that's exactly what happened. "

• 3 Sep, 2017
• 1041 views