Orbán pledged 118 million euros to Bosnian Serb leader at Budapest meeting

Milorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska has reached an agreement on a total of 118 million euros or about 45 billion forints with the Hungarian government during his trip to Budapest over the weekend, Dodik announced at a press conference in Banja Luka on Monday, Sarajevo Times reports.

Of this, 18 million will be used to purchase agricultural machinery, and 70 million will be used to make up for the funds missing after Germany pulled out of some projects earlier this year due to Dodik's separatist policies – that is, in Dodik's understanding, the money will go to projects that "the German government shamefully tried to stop".

Dodik did not elaborate on exactly what form the promised 118 million euros would take for the Republika Srpska, or whether this was money previously promised by the Hungarian state.

The Hungarian government has been providing substantial aid to the Bosnian Serbs, having previously given 45 billion forints to the Serb entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina in the form of a very cheap loan through Eximbank. They were also promised €110 million of Hungarian public money for economic development in November 2021, but none of this has arrived yet, according to Radio Free Europe.

We asked Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, about this at Thursday's government briefing. He said: “I am only aware of one agreement worth 100+ million. If you like, this is a Hungarian foreign investment. (...) Since the Germans left there, better and better economic opportunities have opened up, and it may actually be worth investing even more.”

We have also contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and will update this article if they respond.

At his press conference, Dodik also said that he had requested information on the status of these particular projects this money is intended for. “The contract between the German bank and the Republika Srpska is still valid today. They claim that they disagree with their government and the contract is still valid. We are currently waiting for written confirmation to find out what exactly this means.”

Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina's ambassador to Hungary, Biljana Gutić-Bjelica, told Bosnian Serb TV on Wednesday that “the projects previously discussed have been confirmed and new projects have been agreed.

There will be a council overseeing the projects, headed by Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán and Milorad Dodik, which signals its importance.”

G7 writes that Dodik had previously wanted Hungarian funding for the hydroelectric plant planned for Mrsovo and the Ugljevik 3 thermal power plant project which is under development, and even offered the Hungarian side co-ownership in return – so it is possible that this is what they shook hands on this time around.

At the press conference, Dodik also boasted about the other leaders he had negotiated with in Hungary besides Orbán: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

He did not mention the fact that just recently, in August the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina brought charges against him because the politician refuses to take into account the decisions of Christian Schmidt, the High Representative of the international community for Bosnia and Herzegovina. More recently, Dodik also gave an award to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At Thursday's government briefing in Budapest, Gergely Gulyás told Telex that he doesn't expect a war or any conflict to break out in the Western Balkans, despite the indictment of Dodik and the fact that over the last twenty years, the politician has repeatedly stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state is dysfunctional and that the Republika Srpska should become independent. According to Gulyás, Hungary doesn't support this position and has no intention of interfering in the internal affairs there.