Dodik, Čović, Nikšić and Krišto go to Brussels empty-handed: No reform law adopted since Von der Leyen's visit

By: Amra Vrabac

Since the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to BiH on November 1st, not a single "European law" from the 14 priorities from the EC's Report on BiH has been adopted.

Although Von der Leyen clearly emphasized the Law on Courts and the Law on Conflict of Interest at the time, neither of them, nor some other discussed laws, have been on the agenda of the BiH Council of Ministers sessions. The Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, the agreement with FRONTEX, etc., are also pending.

In the meantime, there has been no meeting of the state coalition, and after the visit of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, SNSD President Milorad Dodik announced that Borjana Krišto no longer has the support of this party because there were no representatives from the RS at the meeting.
Dodik reiterated his demands, which are the departure of foreign judges from the Constitutional Court of BiH and the BiH Election Law, which is actually the first demand of HDZ BiH.

This week, representatives of the parties of the 'trojka' and HDZ BiH met in the BiH Parliament, and Dragan Čović stated that he had no contact with SNSD. However, he announced intensive talks in the next ten days. But from then until today, the public has not been informed of any meetings between coalition partners, and time is running out.

On Tuesday, December 5th, the second Political Forum will be held in Brussels, chaired by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi. Although the EU Delegation clearly specified in their response to Patria who was invited to participate in the meeting in Brussels, Milorad Dodik revealed last month that he "is going to Brussels on December 5th to tell them everything".

As explained by the EU Delegation, at the first High-Level Political Forum held on May 17, 2023, political and institutional leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina committed to implementing a number of key activities to move forward on the path of European integration. The focus of the talks was on fulfilling the conditions for opening accession negotiations as soon as possible, and the participants agreed to meet at a new forum in 6 months. In the meantime, the European Commission recommended opening accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, provided that the conditions necessary for membership are met to a sufficient extent.

In addition to Borjana Krišto as the Chairwoman of the BiH Council of Ministers, other invited participants include the Joint Collegium of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the presidents of the caucuses, the deputy chairpersons of the BiH Council of Ministers, the director of the Directorate for European Integration, the prime ministers of the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska, the prime ministers of the ten cantons in the Federation of BiH, and the mayor of Brčko District.

“Participants are expected to discuss progress in fulfilling the 14 key priorities from the European Commission's Opinion, reform steps announced when Bosnia and Herzegovina gained candidate status, and reforms related to the European Union's new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. Prior to the forum itself, a meeting of political leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina with Commissioner Várhelyi will be held,” the EU Delegation stated.

The final number of attendees for Brussels is currently unknown, but let's see what is known. The next session of the BiH Council of Ministers is scheduled for December 7th, two days after Brussels. The agenda is not yet known, and it is not excluded that the agenda will be "determined" in Brussels itself.

Chairwoman Krišto is on an official trip to Dubai, and there is little chance that the state coalition will meet before leaving for Brussels to speak at least somewhat with one voice on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the meetings.

It should be recalled that eight MPs from the state coalition from RS have submitted an initiative to dismiss the BiH Minister of Defense Zukan Helez due to statements about "military camps and training in RS".

SDP BiH President Nermin Nikšić stated that SDP stands behind the BiH Council of Ministers, and even Helez himself, and that for any responsibility, it would first be necessary to determine if the law was violated.

Relations within the state coalition are evidently strained, so the question is how Brussels can take the authorities in BiH seriously in such an atmosphere.

Although some hope that the European Council, which meets in the next ten days, might still recommend opening negotiations with BiH, such a decision is difficult to expect because the BiH authorities are going to Brussels empty-handed, which is clearly evident from the reports from the sessions of the BiH Council of Ministers and both houses of the BiH Parliament.