Derogation of BiH and turning DCPA into a security agency: Not everything offered by foreigners is good, EUROPOL Contact Point is proof

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo @aminacorbozeco

As early as March 1, 2021, when the Council of Ministers unanimously adopted the Decision on allocating premises to the Ministry of Security for the purpose of establishing a joint contact point for cooperation with EUROPOL, the story was over. All signatories of the infamous Cooperation Agreement with EUROPOL had to be aware that the powers of the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies would not be returned soon after being taken away.

They will never be returned, just like the Law on Residence and other legal bases where the state of BiH was derogated.

The then Minister of Security of BiH, along with others in the Council of Ministers, yielded to the demands coming from SNSD and Milorad Dodik, and tears won't help now. Politics, both past and present, lacks a clear strategy to take a step back, because sometimes a step back is better than standing still.

And the National Contact Point for Cooperation with EUROPOL is losing its meaning. It will cease to exist over time, as all police agencies in BiH will establish direct communication via SIENA. This has already been done by the MUP of Republika Srpska, the only police agency in BiH that previously (before signing the agreement) refused to cooperate with EUROPOL, because communication was conducted through the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH.

And the cooperation was completely satisfactory. We will recall Pedro Serrano, Secretary-General of the European External Action Service, and his letter addressed to the former Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Denis Zvizdić, who clearly stated that, considering the organizational structure, material-technical equipment, and human resources, he supports the current operationalization of the Agreement on Operational and Strategic Cooperation between BiH and EUROPOL within the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies.

But Dodik did not give up, and the EU Delegation in BiH was in a hurry, so the signatories were literally, as foreigners wisely know how to do, forced to sign. This says a lot about the signatories themselves, who agreed to derogate the state of BiH for the sake of the interests of lower-ranking world diplomats who are building their careers in BiH.

Thus, today, BiH politicians are more concerned about whether they will be labeled as obstructors of the EU path than about what will remain of the state of BiH on that path! The current ruling group even considers it a disadvantage and unworthy of politics for anyone who is not ready to compromise if the decision is at the expense of BiH.

And this story with EUROPOL has shown exactly that. However, the state of BiH must come first, and then any other integration path.

But, political representatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina are used to being obedient to various world centers of power, both Western and those from Moscow. It's just a matter of attitudes and perceptions about where Bosnia and Herzegovina should go – East or West. And everything is more important to everyone than BiH. Nermin Nikšić will admit, for example, that if they don't get the green light to open negotiations, they will wrap themselves in patriotism!? So, on the EU path, are Nikšić and his team not wrapped in patriotism? If they were, Ramo Isak and Enes Karić would not be fighting for the National Contact Point.

That is why Nešić today proudly announces the direct cooperation between the MUP of Republika Srpska and EUROPOL, and even calls opponents of such unconstitutional solutions ignoramuses.

“Simply put, they did not want or did not know how to read the official acts regulating this area (Agreement on Operational and Strategic Cooperation between BiH and EUROPOL, Provisional Decision on Establishing a Cooperation and Information Exchange System, Instruction on Procedures for Implementing the Strategic Cooperation Agreement, and the Rulebook on the Work of the N/ZKT),” said Nešić.

And it states that all these acts grant the right to competent authorities, which constitute the NZKT and are recognized as competent by EUROPOL (DCPA, SIPA, BiH Border Police, Federal MUP, Cantonal MUPs, MUP of Republika Srpska, Brčko District Police, Service for Foreigners' Affairs, Investigation Department of the Indirect Taxation Authority), to establish a direct link with EUROPOL under certain conditions prescribed by EUROPOL.

It is clear that the Rulebook is interpreted as one wishes, but the fact is that by yielding to Dodik's demands (even though it was due to foreign blackmail) all the circus we are currently experiencing has been enabled.
We remind you that, considering the competences of the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies of BiH prescribed by law, and respecting international standards, the Directorate's position was that the national contact point for cooperation with EUROPOL should and must remain, both organizationally and geographically, within the Sector for International Operational Police Cooperation of the DCPA, where other information exchange channels (INTERPOL, SELEC) are located.

Mirsad Vilić, former director of the DCPA, explained all the facts regarding this issue in his address to the EU Delegation.

Aljoša Čampara, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Federation of BiH, also previously withdrew his signature from the Agreement on the Establishment of a Joint Contact Point for BiH as the National Contact Point for BiH, which will act as a central point between EUROPOL and other competent authorities of BiH.

In the end, everyone signed, and today the existence of the National Contact Point is almost meaningless, and possibly the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies, which they are almost turning into a security agency!?

And, I remind you, this is the only state security agency headed by a Bosniak.