Dodik increasingly aggressive as Constitutional Court session approaches: State property and Drina in focus

Pipe: A.Čorbo-Zećo

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The Concessions Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has submitted a request to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to extend the deadline for ruling on the dispute between the BiH entity of Republika Srpska (RS) and the state of BiH regarding the construction of hydropower plants on the Drina River, which RS and Serbia plan to build jointly.

At the same time, ahead of the session of the Constitutional Court of BiH, the rhetoric of Milorad Dodik is intensifying regarding his unconstitutional activities and announcements of 'stripping BiH of its powers and taking away its competencies'.

"Regarding your inquiry, we inform you that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in case U 16/20, has received a request from the Concessions Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina for an extension of the deadline to act upon the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH adopted in that case on July 16, 2021.
 
The Constitutional Court of BiH will decide on this request of the Commission at the Plenary session scheduled for December 2 and 3, 2021," they told NAP from the Constitutional Court of BiH.

Parallel to these activities, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) has initiated the process of forming an expert group aimed at assisting in the drafting of the Law on the Management and Use of State Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Muharem Cero, an expert on state property, warns that BiH is the only post-communist country that still has not adopted a law on restitution and denationalization, and that its adoption and the establishment of an institutional framework for its implementation would greatly facilitate the resolution of the contentious issue of state property.

"The issue of state property cannot be resolved by adopting a short law on the registration of state property, as recently pointed out by the President of the Constitutional Court of BiH," Cero states.
 
Regarding the hydropower plants on the Drina, it is worth recalling that the High Representative in BiH, Valentin Inzko, opposed the construction of the 'Buk Bijela', 'Foča', and 'Paunci' hydropower plants on the Drina River back in November last year, when the governments of RS and Serbia signed an agreement on the implementation of this project.

In its previous practice, the Constitutional Court of BiH established that waters, including inland waters, are public goods considered state property, and that decisions regarding state property should be made at the level of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, given that the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina has exclusive jurisdiction over deciding the status of state property.