Although the Constitutional Court of BiH contested the decision by which the chief negotiator of BiH with the EU is appointed by the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, in the end the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH will still have to settle the matter.
The decision failed because it was not confirmed in the House of Peoples
Namely, the Constitutional Court of BiH, ruling on the request of 31 representatives of the National Assembly of the RS, contested the decision on the establishment of the office and the procedure for appointing the chief negotiator and deputy chief negotiator of BiH, which was adopted by the House of Representatives. According to that decision, that issue, that is, the establishment of the office and the appointment of the chief negotiator, would be within the competence of the House of Representatives, however, the Constitutional Court of BiH says that the decision was not confirmed by the House of Peoples.
“Therefore, the decision made by one house of the legislative body according to the competences of the Constitution of BiH does not represent a decision of the Parliamentary Assembly. Accordingly, such a decision cannot produce legal action, because it is not in accordance with the Constitution of BiH. The Constitutional Court of BiH ordered the Parliamentary Assembly to standardize the procedure for appointing the chief negotiator and deputy chief negotiator of BiH for conducting negotiations on the accession of BiH to the EU and the establishment of the office of the chief negotiator and deputy chief negotiator within six months from the date of delivery of the decision in accordance with its powers BiH”, stated the Constitutional Court of BiH.
Reactions from Republika Srpska
In the Republika Srpska, unlike before, this time they are satisfied with the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating that any future decision in this regard must receive the support of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. This, as they say, is a guarantee that the decision will not be to the detriment of the Serbs and Republika Srpska.
“We must be aware that there must be a political agreement and that Sarajevo should accept that the place belongs to the Republika Srpska and the Serbian people. When we talk about the issue of European integration, the Serbs and the Republika Srpska do not have a single place, that is, they do not have a minister and deputy minister of foreign affairs or a director of the Directorate for European Integration”, Srđan Mazalica, head of the Club of SNSD deputies and one of the submitters of the initiative to review the constitutionality of the decision on the establishment of the office and the procedure for appointing the chief negotiator and deputy chief, told “Nezavisne” negotiator.
Mazalica pointed out that the possible future legal solution should respect the coordination mechanism and that entities and cantons should be consulted during future decisions.
Negotiations with the EU blocked without a solution
As a reminder, establishing an office and appointing the chief negotiator of BiH with the EU is one of BiH’s conditions for the start of negotiations. Without an office and a chief negotiator, it is practically impossible to get a date for the start of negotiations, and this issue has been discussed within BiH for more than a year. According to the rules and the political agreement, the chief negotiator should be a Serb, and the dispute arose the moment he was to be appointed. SNSD and HDZ insist that the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina does this work, while the parties of the “troika” do not agree to it, and for them, in principle, the most controversial thing was that SNSD will provide that staff.
Political conflict and uncertain agreement
In order to prevent this, the troika parties, together with the opposition parties from Republika Srpska, proposed a decision according to which the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH should appoint the chief negotiator. That decision was adopted in the House of Representatives, but SNSD and HDZ deputies voted against it, who claimed from the beginning that it was an unconstitutional decision and that it would not be possible to appoint the chief negotiator.
That turned out to be true in the end, and now the key question is whether politics will find a common language and reach an agreement on this issue within six months, which is not realistic to expect, because the general elections should be held in October this year, they write. Independent newspaper.
