Crnadak bypassed the BiH Presidency: No one authorised him to write to the Hague Tribunal

The letter that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Crnadak, sent to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which Ambassador Mirsada Čolaković was asked to deliver, has sparked a reaction from the member of the BiH Presidency, Bakir Izetbegović. It has been clarified what transpired from 13 February in the communication between Crnadak and Ambassador Čolaković.  

- On 13 February 2017, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Igor Crnadak, sent an instruction to the BiH Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mirsada Čolaković, informing her that "in the absence of a lawful decision by the competent BiH body (the BiH Presidency), as well as an explicit instruction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH, the BiH Embassy in The Hague cannot undertake any actions that could be interpreted as an interpretation or prejudgment of the official position of the competent BiH bodies" regarding the submission of an application for revision of the judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague of 26 February 2007.

- On 14 February 2017, the BiH Embassy in The Hague received a letter from Minister Crnadak (in a sealed envelope) and the Minister's accompanying instruction to deliver that letter to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice. On the same day, Ambassador Čolaković sent a note to Minister Crnadak (the delivery of which she also requested from the BiH Presidency), requesting that the Minister provide the BiH Embassy in The Hague with the decision of the BiH Presidency authorising the submission of the Minister's letter to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

- On 15 February 2017, Minister Crnadak sent a note to the BiH Embassy in The Hague, in which he "reminded the Embassy that for the conduct of regular diplomatic correspondence by the Minister, no approval or decision of the BiH Presidency is required" and again requested confirmation that the BiH Embassy in The Hague had delivered his letter to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

- On 16 February 2017, the member of the BiH Presidency, Bakir Izetbegović, sent a letter to Minister Crnadak (also delivered to the Chairman of the BiH Presidency, Mladen Ivanić), in which he warned Minister Crnadak that the BiH Presidency had not, by any of its decisions, authorised him, in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH and on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to conduct any correspondence with the International Court of Justice in The Hague, nor had it authorised him to send the letter he sent to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice, and that the BiH Embassy in The Hague therefore cannot and must not deliver his letter, received on 14 February 2017, to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice.

- According to the Constitution of BiH and the Decision of the BiH Presidency on the procedure for appointing ambassadors and other international representatives of BiH, BiH ambassadors are accountable to the BiH Presidency for their work. If the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH issues an instruction to any BiH ambassador to undertake an action or to enable the Minister to undertake an action for which, under the Constitution of BiH, a decision or authorisation of the BiH Presidency is necessary, the ambassador must not act upon that Minister's instruction unless the instruction is accompanied by or references the corresponding decision of the BiH Presidency. On the contrary, the ambassador is obliged to request from the Minister that the decision of the BiH Presidency authorising the Minister to issue the instruction in question or to carry out the action in question be provided or referenced. If the Minister does not provide or reference the corresponding decision of the BiH Presidency, the ambassador is not obliged to act upon the Minister's instruction.

- According to the Constitution of BiH, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH does not have the right to conduct oral or written communication with the International Court of Justice in The Hague unless the BiH Presidency has authorised him for such communication by its decision. There is no decision of the BiH Presidency by which the BiH Presidency authorised Minister Crnadak to conduct any oral or written communication with the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

- The instruction by which Minister Crnadak ordered Ambassador Čolaković to deliver his letter to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice, for the sending of which he was not authorised by a decision of the BiH Presidency, constitutes a gross abuse of the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and the BiH Embassy in The Hague for the purpose of giving an official state character to unauthorised correspondence with the International Court of Justice, which does not represent the official position of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- If Minister Crnadak indeed delivered his unauthorised letter to the Registrar of the International Court of Justice through some “other channels” in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, he has in that case undertaken an action that represents unconstitutional and extra-institutional conduct, i.e., a violation of the Constitution of BiH and an abuse of the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH. Such a letter from Crnadak, delivered in such a manner, the content of which the BiH Presidency has never approved nor been acquainted with, does not and cannot represent the official position of Bosnia and Herzegovina - concludes the press release from the Office of the member of the BiH Presidency, Bakir Izetbegović.