(De)politization of Corona and State of Emergency in RS

A state of emergency has entered into force in Republika Srpska. In practice, this means that the National Assembly will no longer be involved in decision-making, as everything will be transferred to the hands of the RS president, Željka Cvijanović, whose decisions will have the force of law. Also, all of them will have to go through procedures in parliament after the state of emergency ends. 

No Checkpoints

As for the border, nothing will change there, especially when it comes to the inter-entity line and speculation that RS might form checkpoints on that line with the Federation of BiH. This was one of the reasons for the announcement of a blockade by Bosniak politicians in RS, who sought guarantees that there would be no ban on crossing the entity line, so as not to endanger the lives of returnees to RS. In practice, nothing significant should change, except in the sense that all decisions made have the force of law and are all made by one person, the president of RS, writes Deutsche Welle.

RS has given guarantees, says Edin Ramić, a deputy from the Zajedno za BiH club in the National Assembly of RS. He also says that the doubts of the returnee population have been removed, that no police checkpoints will be set up on the inter-entity line.

“We received assurances that none of that will happen, but that everything will be done to stop the spread of infection, for institutions to function faster, to procure equipment faster, to speed up those procedures,” says Ramić, reminding that all decisions made by the RS president during the state of emergency must, after everything, go through all procedures, including the Bosniak Caucus, writes DW.

A Bigger Problem Than Checkpoints

A bigger problem is the lack of cooperation between all levels of government within BiH, as well as the appointment of people to key positions solely due to political suitability. Expertise has been pushed aside, and even those who emerge speak on behalf of politics, not expertise.

"I haven't understood until today that it's such a serious situation. I was more focused on economic activities and protecting the economy. Today I realized that healthcare is in the foreground, and the economy is in the background…”, said Jelka Milićević, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Federal Minister of Finance, and Commander of the Federal Civil Protection Headquarters, on March 18.

The Headquarters was "repackaged" a few days later, as stated by the Prime Minister of the Federation, Fadil Novalić, because it was cumbersome and did not meet expectations, and the number of members was reduced from 21 to nine. Notably, there are no longer representatives from the Ministry of Health. In addition to this, the Sarajevo Canton Headquarters is very active and operates independently of the federal one, although it follows the most important recommendations previously issued.

However, the absurdity lies in the inability to hold sessions of the federal parliament to make urgent decisions, as the Sarajevo Canton Headquarters has banned gatherings of more than 20 people. Given that the parliament is located in Sarajevo, the only solution would be to hold sessions outside the canton, but it is clear that this will not happen; instead, the FBiH Government, as before, will take over the role of parliament. 

Slaves to Politics

The other nine cantons also have their crisis headquarters, which generally make decisions adapted to the situation in that canton's territory, without urgent consultation or harmonization of decisions with the federal level.

"BiH is a country of absurdity. Instead of a unified policy regarding this pandemic, because it knows no borders or nations, we continue to be slaves to both ethnic and political principles. The general danger is for all citizens living here. Not to mention the differences between RS and the Federation,” says political analyst Vehid Šehić.

Even the duration of the curfew was not harmonized in BiH until recently, which is another absurdity. In the Federation, it started at 6 p.m., and in RS two hours later, until the federal headquarters changed the decision and defined the duration from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., the same as RS. 

"In RS, there is a state of emergency where power is currently in the hands of the entity president, while this is not the case in the Federation. However, due to the blockade of work and the inability to hold sessions, the FBiH Government has effectively taken over all roles,” says Šehić, emphasizing that the problem is that politics still leads everything, not expertise. This is particularly true, he says, for healthcare, which operates independently in each of the ten cantons, at the entity level, and in the Brčko District.

Wishes One Thing, Reality Another

"You have the federal institute, cantonal institutes, the RS institute, the district institute. There is no synchronization there. Even the provisions of the federal institute were implemented differently in the cantons. This speaks to the absurdity of it all. They should have put everything aside now and fought the virus together. It is important for us to have the most expert people leading the crisis headquarters. And I don't mean politicians, but epidemiologists and doctors, because citizens trust them. Unfortunately, the latter is our reality,” says Šehić, stating that only citizens have shown responsibility in all of this, unlike politicians who are still mostly focused on self-promotion.

 On March 17, the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted a decision to reactivate the Coordination Body for Protection and Rescue, which was formed in 2017. It includes representatives of the Council of Ministers, entity governments, and the Brčko District, of course, with the "most important" aspect being the observance of equal national representation. In terms of the effectiveness of this body, whose task is to coordinate all competent institutions, from local communities to entities and joint services at the BiH level, little has been done so far. It is headed by the Minister of Security, Fahrudin Radončić, who stated a few days ago that epidemiologists and medical professionals should take over the leadership.

“The Time for Politicians is Over”

"Epidemiologists and medical experts who can answer these types of questions should urgently take over the Coordination Body and the FBiH Crisis Headquarters. The time when politicians were in Crisis Headquarters is over; now it is the turn of the medical profession,” said Radončić.

Nevertheless, everything is in the service of politics, and expertise is unfortunately only a secondary matter, with a few exceptions. This was discussed in an interview with DW by the Minister of Health in the RS Government and an epidemiologist by profession, Alen Šeranić, when asked who gets priority in decision-making in these crisis situations, expertise or politics.

“A compromise is sought. And through this decision-making regarding the state of emergency itself, politics listens to expertise, and that is where an adequate response is always found. Both politics and expertise value the health of citizens. That is not in question, and decisions are made in that direction,” said Šeranić, among other things.