This article describes how, when neighboring Croatia joins the EU on July 1, Bosnia’s farmers will lose their main export market and get hit bad. I could add it to the long list of economic ailments in our dear country, most of whose origins can be traced to the top.
Here’s how: In order to sell food to EU nations, Bosnia needs to make sure its food meets EU hygiene codes. Many private farmers have already met these standards, but Bosnia’s government still has not agreed on a unified verification system.
Image: Bosnian farmers protesting government idiocy.
In politically-divided postwar Bosnia (now 18 years after the war ended) the three ethno-religious groups cannot agree on much of anything. Gridlock ensues, progress is not made, and the average Bosnian suffers. In this case, farmers who are making good products could lose their livelihood because the government can’t agree on a way to certify the products. If verifying the quality of their nation’s products so that citizens can earn a living isn’t among the very obvious duties of a government, I don’t know what is.
What to say? It’s insane, it’s exasperating. Bosnians of all ethic stripes are already sick of a political system that only helps those in power to get rich and stay in power. Yet before each election nationalistic politicians stir up paranoid xenophobia (“You can’t vote for the other guy, ’cause he’s not one of us. We have to stick together and look out for our own.”) and stay in power. Pray that next time, people will be so sick of it that their frustration will dominate the fear and they’ll throw the bums out.
“Be angry, but do not sin.” -Ephesians 4:26
Notes from the Edge 