Anna Ibrisagic, a little piece of woman who does not let herself be counted

(B2 Archive) “We have learned little from past situations in the Balkans. It is high time for Europe to wake up”. The tone is sharp, precise, accusatory. Faced with the European head of the ESDP mission in Kosovo, the little woman who speaks, on the rank of Swedish deputies, does not let it count and somewhat shakes up this session of the "Defence" sub-committee of the European Parliament devoted to the future of the former Yugoslav province. Anna Ibrisagic knows what she is talking about.

A little piece of woman who does not let herself be counted

If this former opera singer is today one of the MEPs of the Nordic Kingdom, she does not forget her country of origin, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was born 40 years ago, in 1967 in Sanslu Most, near Banja Luka. And in 1992, when she arrived in Stockholm, it was not for pleasure, but as a political refugee. Few European countries were then to welcome refugees with open arms. Sweden will thus collect nearly 100.000 Bosnians while France only accepts a few hundred.

Entry into politics with Carl Bildt

Quickly drawn to politics, Anna Ibrisagic joined the “Moderate” party, the “right” party, six months after her arrival. " It was strange to see a refugee who had just arrived, not knowing if she could stay, commit like this she says. But it was her own way of integrating… Two years later, she obtained her permanent residence permit and became an interpreter for the courts. What accelerated her journey was her meeting in 1995 with Carl Bildt, Party member and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who took her under his wing. He becomes his mentor. She will translate her book dedicated to her mission of peace in Bosnia.

Elected in 1998 as municipal councilor in Lulea, a small port city in the north of Sweden, she became a national deputy in 2002. And today she sits in the European Parliament, in the Swedish ranks, on prestigious committees such as the Foreign Affairs Committee or the Defense Committee. Today, when she speaks about the Balkans, in a precise and lively tone, silence falls in the ranks. We recognize his knowledge of the subject.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

(published in Ouest-France, October 2007)

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