Bećirović: HDZ BiH has shown a pro-Russian course and voted against speeding up BiH's path to NATO

At today's session of the Joint Commission for Defence and Security, a vote was held on the proposal of MP Denis Bećirović to speed up BiH's path towards full membership in the NATO alliance. In addition to MPs from the entity of RS, MPs from HDZ also voted against speeding up BiH's integration into the NATO alliance. This is the first time that HDZ MPs have openly spoken out against NATO membership and officially shown that they have started pursuing pro-Russian policies.

Bećirović stated that NATO membership is one of the two strategic foreign policy goals and that there is no more discussion about it. The Presidency of BiH and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH unanimously made decisions and laws on this matter, and it is our obligation to implement and accelerate them.

Furthermore, Bećirović noted that he had waited for several days to see if any state body of Bosnia and Herzegovina would convene any session regarding the scandalous, anti-Dayton, and unconstitutional Resolution on the protection of the constitutional order and the declaration of military neutrality of the smaller BiH entity, RS.

- Unfortunately, no one reacted seriously. Neither did the authorized representatives of the international community in BiH react concretely. Only the House of Representatives of the PS BiH will consider my proposal to speed up Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to NATO membership.

Namely, at the session of this House, in a few days, the proposal in which I request the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina to prepare and submit to the parliamentary procedure a Report on the progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the process of joining the NATO alliance, with a proposal for concrete measures to accelerate Bosnia and Herzegovina's activities on the path to full NATO membership, will be considered as a mandatory agenda item.

The resolution that openly promotes the undermining of unanimously determined foreign policy goals of a sovereign state and the linking of an administrative-territorial unit within the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina with another country, Serbia, is an unprecedented and immeasurably dangerous unconstitutional and anti-Dayton activity.

The competent representatives of the international community must finally become active in accordance with the clearly prescribed obligations they have towards the Dayton Peace Agreement. A new attempt to openly undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement must not be ignored, as this is one of the most brutal and dangerous attacks on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1995 - Bećirović emphasized.

The resolution of the Bosnian entity RS cannot have any legal effect, because the issue of military orientation is defined by the Law on Defense of BiH, and no entity act can be above it. The Law on Defense is clear - Article 82, paragraph b), indent 2 states:

"In the event that any entity law or sub-legal act is in conflict with the provisions of this law, the provisions of this law shall prevail, and the inconsistent provisions of the entity law or sub-legal act shall not be legally valid or effective.".

Specifically regarding the matter of an invalid decision in terms of military neutrality, the Law on Defense is also clear. Article 84 states: "The Parliamentary Assembly, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidency, and all defense entities, within their respective constitutional and legal jurisdiction, shall undertake the necessary activities for the admission of Bosnia and Herzegovina to NATO membership.".

Any other decision by any lower level of government in BiH, from municipal to state level, related to the demilitarization or military neutrality of any of the entities in BiH without changing these articles of the Law on Defense of BiH in the regular parliamentary procedure, represents a direct institutional attack on the constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bećirović stated.