The decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw America from more than 60 international organizations will have a direct impact on events in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the Venice Commission is among those organizations.
This institution, founded as a body of the Council of Europe, has played a key role in judicial reforms and strengthening the rule of law in BiH since the end of the war in 1995.
Trump’s decision is mostly symbolic, but some actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina will most likely try to abuse it in the context of fulfilling their political interests.
SNSD and HDZ can’t wait for such events
In this sense, the parties HDZ and SNSD especially had a problem with the opinions of the Venice Commission in the past. This especially applies to the HDZ, which insists on changes to the electoral law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
These changes, however, are not in accordance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission, which previously emphasized the need to amend the electoral law in the direction of implementing the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
More specifically, this commission did not support amendments to the law that would establish constituencies based solely on the ethnic affiliation of the residents in those units.
In the context of this “conflict” between the HDZ, which is automatically supported by the SNSD, and the Venice Commission, it is important to point out that the American withdrawal will likely be used as a disqualification of the opinion of this body in future discussions on judicial reforms within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
America has withdrawn, but opinions are still highly relevant
The withdrawal of US participation from this body is symbolic, in the sense that it will not have a major impact on the work of the Venice Commission in the context of providing expert opinions for judicial reforms.
Trump did not only withdraw America from the Venice Commission, but it was part of a wider list of institutions that simply do not fit into the “America First” principle by which the US is now guided in the sphere of foreign policy.
Put simply, Trump’s withdrawal is about money and the use of resources, not the work of the commission as such.
What does not change is the composition of the Venice Commission, which continues to gather extremely respected experts in constitutional law who come from all over the world.
That is why it is important that the possible abuse of Washington’s symbolic move is identified exactly as it is, and that the opinions of the Venice Commission should continue to be a kind of guide in the continuation of the judicial reforms that our country really needs, he writes. Klix.
