Bećirović Calls on Izetbegović to Convene a Session of the House of Peoples of BiH

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Delegate in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and Vice President of the SDP BiH Denis Bećirović sent an invitation to the Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH Bakir Izetbegović to convene a session of the House of Peoples

"Mr. Izetbegović, more than six months have passed since the constitution of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. Unfortunately, the House of Peoples is not functioning. Also, the House of Representatives has not been working for more than ten months. This is an open and flagrant violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, the Constitution of BiH, and the Rules of Procedure of the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives. The House of Peoples in its new term has not adopted a single law. There are more than 30 laws pending in the parliamentary procedure. Dozens of important international agreements are on hold, causing enormous damage. Due to obstructions and the complete halt in the work of state authorities, hundreds of millions of euros for capital investments and public works that mean employment for thousands of workers in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been blocked," the invitation states, the SDP announced.

It adds that "due to such irresponsible behavior, citizens throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina suffer equally."

"There must be accountability for such unconstitutional and illegal behavior. We are not all the same, and therefore we must specify things and lay them bare to the end. Mr. Izetbegović, bearing in mind the aforementioned facts, I publicly call on you to convene a session of the House of Peoples within seven days. In the event that certain delegates again fail to attend the session of the highest legislative body of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and refuse to do what is their constitutional, legal, and procedural duty, I propose that all of us who insist on protecting the principles of constitutionality and legality address the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as other relevant addresses in the country and abroad, which have the right and the Dayton obligation to sanction destructive anti-Dayton elements. Until the Constitution of BiH is harmonized in all its elements with international law, the High Representative must use his powers under Article 5 of Annex
10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement – to be the final interpreter of its content. It should not be forgotten that Annex 10 was signed by both BiH entities, in addition to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and the FRY, which was succeeded by Serbia, thereby agreeing that they will accept that interpretation as legally relevant, and thus binding on all signatory parties," Bećirović stated in the invitation.

As he says, "the international community is obliged to help the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina become a normal and functional state, so that as an international legal subject it can assume its
responsibilities before the international community like any other independent and sovereign state."

"The civilian segments of the international community must be in the function of establishing lasting peace and ensuring the rule of law, as well as the efficient functioning of state bodies and institutions. In short, their task, together with domestic forces, is to create legal and political prerequisites that will ensure the functioning of state authorities and the rule of law, as well as faster rapprochement with European and Atlantic integration processes. The main actors of the international community knew that Annex 4 of the Dayton Peace Agreement was in conflict with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and that the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina would therefore not be able to function normally as a sovereign state – that is why they gave it a High Representative in Annex 10 to remove, when necessary, blockades and obstructions on the path to the EU and NATO alliance. The international community has enormous legal, political, and moral obligations towards the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina: if our state was unjustifiably left to defend itself during the aggression, today it has the right to demand from it help in finding its place among the democratic states of Europe. This means creating prerequisites for strengthening the democratic and legal order and the foundations of civil society," the invitation reads. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bećirović concludes, has the right to ask the international community to help it turn its potential and real possibilities into a chance for building a European future, connecting - as a significant geopolitical and cultural-civilizational crossroads - the south and north of Europe, east and west.