Čović after meeting in Mostar: We have a commendable level of agreement on one part of the Election Law

(Patria) - A meeting of coalition partners forming the state-level government was held in Mostar today.

The host to the Trojka and SNSD was the leader of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović. He was joined by the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Borjana Krišto, and state representative Darijana Filipović.

The President of SNSD, Milorad Dodik, arrived in the city on the Neretva with the largest delegation, so today at the HDZ headquarters were also Željka Cvijanović, Staša Košarac, and Sredoje Nović. The presidents of the United Srpska, Nenad Stevandić, and DEMOS, Nedeljko Čubrilović, were also present.

The Trojka was represented by the presidents of SDP BiH, Nermin Nikšić, and Our Party, Edin Forto, while the second deputy president of the People and Justice party, Denis Zvizdić, attended the meeting on behalf of the party.

Addressing reporters at a press conference after the meeting, host Dragan Čović said that today's gathering was extremely constructive in a very friendly atmosphere "that promises well".

- We discussed ten laws on the agenda. From the simpler ones to the most sensitive, such as the Election Law and the law on the Constitutional Court - said Čović.

According to him, the meeting participants also discussed certain personnel issues and agreed on the host and date of the next meeting.

- I believe that regarding the Election Law, we have a commendable level of agreement on one part, and that it could be on the Council of Ministers relatively soon, perhaps even by October 3rd, to then proceed to parliamentary procedure. The situation is similar with the law on the Court of BiH.

All other eight laws, from the simplest ones – I don't think there will be any problems – to the Election Law, which needs to respect our signed documents from when we made our agreement, on one hand, and the law on foreign judges in the Constitutional Court of BiH, on the other, should be in parliamentary procedure by the end of October at the latest. This would allow us to meet the deadlines - added Čović.

When it comes to personnel solutions, Čović says that a special discussion was held regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH, specifically the representation of our officials in institutions around the world.

- The last one was at the UN, where one or the other Bosniak member of the Presidency of BiH comes out and represents themselves and no one else in this country, deeply insulting the institutions of BiH and violating the Dayton Peace Agreement, and even the Constitution of BiH itself. We want to regulate this through amendments to the law that is in procedure in the BiH Parliament, in a way that no one can unilaterally come out and present views on behalf of BiH anymore. Everyone can do that privately. Of course, it won't be easy - Čović is aware.

We assessed, Čović adds, that despite all the problems we have, there should be progress, and we can achieve it in this period when European institutions will make a final assessment of BiH.