Čomor: Inefficient work of the FBiH Parliament continues

(Patria) - Eldar Čomor, SDA representative in the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was a guest on today's edition of Federal Television's Rezime program.

Yesterday, after more than a month, a session of the House of Representatives was supposed to be held, but it did not happen, and it remained unclear whether it even started, was postponed, or interrupted. Čomor says about this:

"Yesterday was just a continuation of the inefficient work of the FBiH Parliament since the new convocation after the 2022 elections. We had the 10th regular session scheduled yesterday, which was interrupted due to the request of the presiding officer Mladen Bošković, because at that moment there were not enough representatives from the ruling majority to vote on a conclusion at his request, which related to authorizing him to continue leading the parliamentary session".

Čomor also points out that they have previously problematized the behavior of the Parliament's leadership in sessions, primarily the presiding officer Mirjana Marinković Lepić and the deputy presiding officer Bošković.

"We, as a club of representatives, have already submitted a request for an assessment of constitutionality regarding the powers that Bošković previously had when he scheduled the 8th and 9th sessions. And our arguments have not changed in relation to the behavior we saw yesterday, because Lepić convened the session, and Bošković took over the presidency. Our problem is that the rules of procedure are not being respected, which they amended in previous sessions, and our objections relate to Articles 42 and 103, in connection with the adoption of a conclusion from Article 153 of the rules of procedure and Article 3, which states that if certain matters are not resolved by the rules of procedure, then they are resolved by a conclusion. Yesterday, they again found themselves in a situation where they had to adopt a conclusion to confirm the authorization he allegedly received from the presiding officer, even though she was present at the session itself. Article 42 states this - if the presiding officer is prevented from performing their duties, they, in agreement with the deputy presiding officer, meaning plural, decide who will perform their duties. The public saw that the presiding officer was present yesterday, and we see no reason why she did not continue to lead the session," he stated.

Čomor emphasizes that 'it is a matter of the force of the majority, where it is only said that they have the votes'.

"They resorted again to adopting a conclusion for something that was already resolved by the rules of procedure. So far, they had 51 or 52 votes, yesterday they did not have that, and because of that, they found themselves in a position to interrupt the session," he claims.

The interruption of the session, Čomor believes, can also be linked to the SDA Club's proposal regarding the gas pipeline law.

"We submitted a request to include this law on the agenda of yesterday's session under urgent procedure because the FBiH Government did not respond to our request in time. If the session had continued, they would have had to declare whether they were for the urgent procedure. The Prime Minister requested that our request not be accepted, because supposedly the Government will propose its own draft law in the coming period," he states.

Asked what would happen if the Constitutional Court ruled that the sessions presided over by Bošković were unconstitutional, he answers:

"Everything that was done in those sessions is called into question. That, on the other hand, leaves the applicant the possibility to problematize the things they want from the agenda that was on those sessions. I think the budget can be endangered solely due to the irresponsible behavior of the Government."