Absolute dysfunctionality of the Federation is a consequence of Nikšić's incompetence and the Trojka's subservience to Čović and HDZ!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

Since the 9th regular session of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation concluded at 5:27 PM on January 31st this year, representatives who sell promises to citizens about fighting for their rights in every election have done nothing to improve the situation in the Federation of BiH entity.

Complete atrophy of parliamentary life in the Federation, in other words, general chaos of the legislative and executive authorities, has not been seen even in times when HDZ BiH openly blocked this entity. True, it is still blocking it today, but with great help from partners in the Trojka project.

We saw an attempt at a session on March 4th, but it quickly became clear to the representatives that there were too many anti-business maneuvers orchestrated by the Speaker of the House Mirjana Marinković Lepić and the attempted Speaker, otherwise Deputy Speaker Mladen Bošković. The farce they performed with Bošković's powers, which annulled the Rules of Procedure, did not pass on that March 4th.

This led to the legislative body of the Federation entity sleeping its post-winter slumber for two and a half months. We realized long ago that darkness fell instead of dawn over the larger FBiH entity, which is suffering from the incompetence of the Trojka and the anti-state policy of Dragan Čović.

There are at least three reasons why laws concerning the daily lives and functioning of citizens, the economy, and the Federation as a whole are on hold.

The first is the appointment of a judge to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After attacks on the Rules of Procedure, on which the Constitutional Court of the FBiH will make a decision, the ruling majority announced momentum, under the guise that the opposition blocked them. Again, HDZ's Bošković is on the scene, who postponed the session of the Election and Appointment Committee twice, and scheduled the last one for tomorrow. Parallel to the election of the judge of the BiH Constitutional Court, this committee needs to resolve the situation with Mirjana Marinković Lepić, i.e., to appoint the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House (instead of Edina Gabela).

We previously wrote that Čović, through Bošković, is blocking the election of new leadership members of the House of Representatives before the election of Marin Vukoja is resolved. Therefore, it is expected that we will see preparations at tomorrow's session and an attempt to appoint Vukoja at the next one, because Čović is certainly in a hurry.

The second reason why the parliamentary life of the Federation is suffering blockades from HDZ, Trojka, and partners is the Southern Gas Interconnection. Čović, with the full support of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, has no intention of giving up on turning the gas interconnection project into an ethnic corporation for his own interests. Čović long ago outlined that there would be no Southern Interconnection without an HDZ gas operator. Plenković, despite serious warnings from Washington, fully supported him and reiterated this a week or two ago.

HDZ has sent the Draft Law on the Southern Gas Interconnection to the parliamentary procedure, and Article 5 is crucial:

"The economic company for the production and transport of gas 'Južna plinska interkonekcija' d.o.o. Mostar (hereinafter: the investor) is determined as the holder of the investment for the 'Southern Interconnection Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia' gas pipeline project."

The SDA Club also sent the Bill on the Southern Interconnection for urgent procedure, which, after the interruption of the first attempt at the 10th regular session, issued a statement that the session was interrupted so that this proposal would not be considered.

SDA President Bakir Izetbegović asked Nermin Nikšić, Prime Minister of the FBiH, on Friday to have the FBiH Government submit its proposal, given that it had been announced and the previous proposal had been withdrawn. However, it is clear that this has not happened so far, because Nikšić obviously does not dare to oppose Čović.

The third reason for the general blockade is very likely the deadline that Christian Schmidt set for the amendments to the FBiH Constitution concerning the election of the FBiH Government to come into force.

The SDA Presidency has therefore requested the OHR to extend the deadline by three months for the amendment to come into force.

"After the ruling structure did nothing, SDA proposed amending this amendment to exclude the House of Peoples from the procedure, as is the case at the state level and in the RS entity. Given the short deadline, May 1st, by which the ruling coalition is preventing the amendment change through inaction, it would be necessary to extend the deadline for its adoption," the SDA Presidency stated.

Enormous borrowing, problems in the energy sector, political and parliamentary blockades clearly prove that Christian Schmidt's decisions in 2022 and 2023 have caused irreparable damage to the previously much more advanced and functional entity in BiH.

The incompetence and subservience of the Trojka to Čović and Plenković, in combination with other factors, have clearly led to the absolute dysfunctionality of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. And undoubtedly, karma has done its part, because those who agree to completely trample on the political will of the majority, aware of their own inadequacy, cannot produce better results.