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Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. Photo: Beta

Serbia’s president and prime minister, Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic, are meeting representatives of ruling and opposition parties from Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska in Belgrade on Thursday to discuss the controversial referendum which is currently set for September 25.

The meeting is being held in the wake of strong condemnation of the referendum plan by the Peace Implementation Council, the international body tasked with implementing the 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war. However council member Russia, an ally of the Bosnian Serbs, abstained from the criticism.

Ahead of the encounter, Vucic said on Thursday morning that he sees no point to the meeting because Republika Srpska has already made its decision and intends to stick to it.

“I do not breach the deals I make,” Vucic said.

His statement came after Dodik gave an interview to TV N1, saying that the referendum will be held according to plan and that there will be no postponing.

Dodik also stated that Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia could start their relations “from scratch”, and settle any issues without the international community interfering.

He further announced that his party is considering whether to hold a secession referendum in 2017, after it establishes whether Republika Srpska has a potential future in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Besides Serbian Nikolic and Vucic, Thursday’s meeting is to be attended by Republika Srpska’s president and prime minister, Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic – both from the ruling Alliance of Independent Social democrats, SNSD – as well as the Serb member of the Bosnian state presidency, Mladen Ivanic and the speaker of the Bosnian parliament’s House of Representatives, Mladen Bosic, who represent the opposition bloc of Bosnian Serb parties.

After meeting the Bosnian Serb leaders, Vucic will meet the Croat member of the tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Covic, who is also the leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, HDZ BiH. The topics on the table will be cooperation and stability in the region.

Many Bosnian and international officials have unofficially expressed hopes that the Belgrade leadership will use its influence to persuade Bosnian Serb politicians to abandon the referendum.

The vote is intended to demonstrate public support for holding the annual Day of Republika Srpska on January 9 even though the state-level Constitutional Court ruled last year that the holiday was unconstitutional as it was discriminates against non-Serbs.

Earlier this year, Vucic stopped two similar referendum initiatives launched by Dodik by publicly refusing his support.

However, Vucic has publicly supported holding the Day of Republika Srpska on January 9 and attended the celebrations this year.

Russia – which remains influential in both Serbia and Republika Srpska – has also supported it.

All the proposed referendums have been seen challenging the authority of state-level institutions. Bosniaks fear that these attempts to challenge the state could be a precursor to a bid by Republika Srpska to secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Local experts were unsure about what stance Vucic would take, but said international pressure was the cause of the meeting in Belgrade.

“The upcoming meeting of the highest political officials from Republika Srpska with the Serbian leadership in Belgrade shows that there are strong pressures from a part of the international community so that the scheduled referendum does not take place,” said Adam Sukalo, the leader of a Republika Srpska political party called Advanced Srpska.

Experts have suggested that calling off the referendum could hurt Dodik – who has repeatedly toyed with the idea of backing down and cancelling – at Bosnia’s upcoming local elections in October.