CEC to determine conflicts of interest for now, and after the Commission is formed, ministers will do it themselves!

The media have been problematizing many stories about the establishment of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent days, and the question has arisen as to who will check whether ministers in the Council of Ministers are in conflict of interest, writes the Patria News Agency.

However, the situation is clear, the Central Election Commission (CEC) will do it, acting in accordance with the existing Law on the Council of Ministers, and the check previously performed for Denis Zvizdić, the candidate for the composition of the Council of Ministers, is proof of this.

Although the Law on Conflict of Interest is in conflict with the Law on the Council of Ministers, for now there will be no obstacles to checking candidates for ministers at the CEC, because that is what the Law on the Council of Ministers states.

At the last session of the previous convocation of Parliament, this issue was emphasized and harmonization of these two laws was requested, but it has not happened to this day. However, the CEC has never commented on this issue. For now, they are acting according to the current Law on the Council of Ministers.

Otherwise, according to the amendments to the Law on Conflict of Interest in BiH public institutions, which was adopted by the BiH Parliamentary Assembly under an urgent procedure and there was no possibility to amend it, all competencies of the BiH CEC in the area of conflict of interest were transferred to a special parliamentary commission which includes three holders of executive functions, a director and two deputy directors of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of Fight against Corruption.

Such a commission has never been established, so the CEC has continued to work according to the Law on the Council of Ministers. Suad Arnautović, a member of the CEC, has problematized this several times:

- Who thought of this? First and foremost, the ruling parties in the BiH PA, with the clear opposition's disagreement. However, no less responsibility lies with the OHR, which, incidentally, incorporated the Law on Conflict of Interest into our public space and legal order, but when this law began to be undermined back in 2008 by the adoption of the Law on Conflict of Interest in Republika Srpska, the OHR fell silent and retreated into a "mouse hole", thus becoming a direct accomplice in blocking the system. Now, even in Brčko District BiH, they are proposing that the Election Commission of Brčko District BiH determine conflicts of interest in the district, which is absolutely contrary to the BiH Election Law, because the competencies of election commissions are determined by the BiH Central Election Commission – Arnautović wrote in a column.

In simple terms, one could conclude that a law has been adopted in which "the judge will also be the prosecutor", meaning that conflicts of interest will be determined by those who are supposed to be checked!?