Izetbegović: Ivanić's letter to The Hague will be his private opinion, not the stance of the BiH Presidency

Following the extraordinary press conference of the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Mladen Ivanić, who spoke about the letter from the International Court of Justice in The Hague to the members of the Presidency, and accused "Bosniak officials" of opening his letter before him, the Cabinet of the BiH Presidency member Bakir Izetbegović also made a statement, Patria reports.

Mr. Ivanić stated at today's press conference that he had always claimed that the International Court of Justice in The Hague would seek clarification regarding the status of agent Softić. This is not what Mr. Ivanić has always claimed.

All along, including in his letter to the Court dated July 13, 2016, Mr. Ivanić claimed that, according to the Statute and Rules of the Court, it was necessary for the BiH Presidency to give new authorization to agent Softić, or to re-appoint agent Softić for the revision procedure. However, in its letter to the members of the BiH Presidency, the Court requested clarification of the status of agent Softić according to the existing Decision of the BiH Presidency of October 4, 2002.

In this letter, the Court did not prejudge any stance of the Court on the interpretation of its Statute and Rules regarding the appointment of agents. Instead of interpreting the Statute and Rules of the International Court of Justice all the time, Mr. Ivanić should finally clarify why and on what legal (and not political) grounds he denies the legally unquestionable fact that Mr. Softić is still the authorized agent of BiH based on the Decision of the BiH Presidency of October 4, 2002, because that decision is still valid and in force.

At today's press conference, Mr. Ivanić read excerpts from his new letter to the Court, which he has already written and which a special envoy will deliver to the Court on March 2. In this letter, Mr. Ivanić repeats what he already said at a press conference in Belgrade on February 22, namely that he will tell the Court that he is writing this letter in his capacity as Chairman of the BiH Presidency, i.e., as the "Sovereign" of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In other words, Mr. Ivanić confirmed today that in this new letter to the Court, he will present his private opinion as the official stance of the BiH Presidency.

If Mr. Ivanić actually does this, it will be an abuse of the position of the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, because Mr. Ivanić, regardless of the fact that he is currently the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, does not have the right to present his opinions and interpretations to the Court on behalf of the BiH Presidency as the official stance of the BiH Presidency, because there is no consensus among all three members of the BiH Presidency on these opinions and interpretations, nor are these private opinions and interpretations based on any facts and constitutional-legal arguments.

At today's press conference, Mr. Ivanić also stated that in his new letter to the Court, he will write that the BiH Presidency held a "session" on February 23, 2017, and state that at that "session" the BiH Presidency did not make a decision on submitting a request for revision. As is well known, that "session" of the BiH Presidency was interrupted, meaning it was not held, due to a lack of quorum, because Mr. Izetbegović and then Mr. Čović left, and the BiH Presidency did not vote on any decision at that "session".