ČOVIĆ WITHOUT MERCY: How Those Who Brought Ademović to Office Created a Political Hell for Him

The latest rotation of the current government in the presidency of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken place, with the role assumed by Dragan Čović, leader of the HDZ, who immediately announced an “unblocking” and acceleration of the legislative process.

The mandate of the previous chairman, Kemal Ademović, remained marked by politically sensitive circumstances within the Collegium, in which Ademović did not manage well. Although the blockades were primarily caused by delegates from the HDZ and SNSD, in this case it will become clear that Ademović's 'red lines' did not bear fruit.

Čović, Špirić and the team easily jumped over all of them.

This is precisely where the key point of dispute arises: whether the existing relations are the result of a clear will of the clubs or a combination of political agreements that have surpassed internal coordination.

It will likely be the latter, especially given that Kemal Ademović was elected to the Collegium of the House of Peoples after nominating himself, despite the fact that he was not the choice of the Bosniak Club.

In the end, he was elected by delegates from the HDZ and SNSD, those whose blockades would make Ademović's chairmanship very uncomfortable. Thus, today Čović will admit that they made a mistake when they elected the Bosniak representative to the Collegium. But it is too late for regret.

Just as it is too late for the Troika (NiP, Our Party and SDP) to become a respected part of the team that constitutes the government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And Ademović is a mirror of such a government. From announced compromises to a complete blockade. But it is important to say that the blockades only occurred after the servile Troika delivered what the HDZ and SNSD wanted. From the godfather's building, the security sector, to the most significant institutions.

And precisely because of this, critics of the process of electing Ademović to the Collegium point out that it was not the result of a unanimous political consensus within the Bosniak Club, but rather the outcome of complex parliamentary combinations in which the HDZ and SNSD played a significant role.

On the other hand, formally and legally, the election was conducted through the procedural mechanisms that apply in the House of Peoples, which further opens up space for different interpretations of legitimacy.

And precisely because of this discrepancy between formal procedure and political perception, the Collegium of the House of Peoples has in the previous period often been the subject of blockades, lack of quorum, mutual accusations among political actors, and Ademović's total disorientation.

Dragan Čović's announcement of an “unblocking” and filtering of the agenda through an agreement on the “contentious and non-contentious” part of the materials can be interpreted precisely as a criticism of Ademović rather than an attempt to make the work of the House of Peoples more operational.

However, at the same time, the question remains open whether this solves the substantive problem or merely technically manages the consequences of political blockades arising from deeper disagreements within and between the clubs, i.e., the parties that make up the government. But there should be no doubt that Čović will once again be the winner in the game of outsmarting.

Ademović is a former member of NiP, and that is how he was elected to the Collegium, and now he is the president of Red Lines, a newly formed party, so it is clear that the crisis could deepen through this dimension as well.

Ultimately, Ademović's mandate showed how difficult it is to perform a function in the Collegium without a firm political foothold within one's own club. His role remained between formal legitimacy and political contestation, making it one of the most controversial chairmanships in the recent practice of the House of Peoples.