Čović did not spare the troika: I think they are acting on orders, we will review the signed cooperation agreement

Written by: Amra Vrabac

President of HDZ BiH Dragan Čović held a one-hour gathering with journalists on Friday, during which he spoke very openly about the government, partners, expectations, possible recompositions, representatives of the international community at whose urging they formed a government that experienced turbulence after two years.

When asked what the goal of the troika is in initiating the removal of SNSD officials from the government, Čović said he had asked them several times.

"I talked to them five times - tell me the reason why you are doing this now and what we will gain from it. My opinion is that they received an order, or someone received an order to do this for a while," said Čović.

He repeated several times that HDZ BiH stopped the removal of Elmedin Konaković, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that this is clear to him as well.

Although he did not specify when the meeting of partners at the state level would be held, he said it would be very soon and that they would then put the agreement before them and see whether further partnership makes sense or not.

Yesterday, he also held a meeting with the head of the SDP, Nermin Nikšić, but details of that conversation were not disclosed. For the next week, Čović announced a conversation with Milorad Dodik, and an emergency session of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina is scheduled for Tuesday.

Regardless of the confusion that arose with the proposal to remove the first deputy, Čović said that even if the request is technically corrected, he believes that this removal will not happen.

We remind you that five delegates signed the request for the removal of the first deputy chairman without specifying the name Nikola Špirić. Given that from February 16, Špirić takes over the chairmanship of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first deputy becomes Kemal Ademović (NIP). However, on Tuesday, it may happen that there is no quorum for work and decision-making, meaning that SNSD delegates do not attend the session.

An optimistic Čović also announced yesterday the adoption of two European laws and the Budget of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, given the situation in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where there is no member of the Collegium from the Serbian people, the Speaker of the House, Denis Zvizdić, stated that he will not schedule sessions until a proposal for the election of the missing member is submitted.

So far, no proposal has been submitted, and SNSD previously proposed Branislav Borenović, which he refused and called on the house to vote against, which the representatives did.

Incidentally, Nebojša Radmanović was removed on January 23 by the votes of the troika, SDA, DF, NES, and the opposition from the RS.

The troika has just begun intensive negotiations with the opposition from the RS, and the head of NIP, Elmedin Konaković, called on HDZ to decide as soon as possible which side to take.

When it comes to the number of representatives, the troika with NES, Šemsudin Mehmedović and Aida Baručija, and the opposition from the RS have 19 votes. HDZ and SNSD have 12 votes, while SDA and DF have 11 votes. SDA and DF are of the view that they will support all removals, but will not vote for any appointments.

Without SDA and DF, if this balance of power remains, neither a member of the Collegium of the House of Peoples nor a new Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina can be appointed. The Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, officially requested checks for Goran Selak, who is the proposal of SNSD, even though he is the president of the Socialist Party of the Serb Republic. However, the first question is whether Selak will pass the checks, and the second is how a majority for his appointment will be secured.