Will Nikšić ask Budimir to dismiss Lijanović?

In a major operation codenamed "Meso", Jerko Ivanković Lijanović, Deputy Prime Minister, Federal Minister of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Commander of FUCZ and Deputy President of the People's Party Work for Better (NSRzB), was arrested today, reports the Patria News Agency.

FBiH Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić, besides supporting judicial bodies that there should be more such actions, did not state whether he would send a proposal to the President of FBiH Živko Budimir for Lijanović's dismissal from the ministerial post.

Otherwise, as legally stipulated, the proposal for the dismissal of a minister in the FBiH Government is made by the Prime Minister, and the minister is dismissed by the President of the FBiH.

Although this procedure should be initiated at least for moral reasons, considering less sensitive and more benign cases that occur across European countries, when politicians resign from their positions solely for ethical reasons, our source from the FBiH Government says that such a scenario is not one hundred percent certain.

However, we learn that the Prime Minister's office is nevertheless "listening" to news from the BiH Prosecutor's Office in order to clarify its position on the Lijanović case.

Namely, if the BiH Prosecutor's Office requests custody for Lijanović and the other arrested individuals, it is certain that Nikšić will request Jerko's dismissal, and then it will be Budimir's turn, who, as a reminder, was also arrested and spent 30 days in prison, but even during that period, he held the position of President of FBiH.

However, since the procedure for dismissing the President of FBiH is considerably more complex than in the case of a federal minister, it is at least expected that Prime Minister Nikšić will decide on such a move.

Our sources from the FBiH Government say that the issue of dismissing any minister, regardless of whether it concerns investigations, criminal charges, or even indictments, is not a matter of law or valid legal regulations, but exclusively of political agreements.