STATE PROPERTY: Quint Ambassadors Scheduled and Then Cancelled Meeting with Borjana Krišto

(Patria) - The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, informed the members of the Council of Ministers at a session on April 22 that she had received a request from the Quint countries for a meeting with the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the topic of state property. This meeting was cancelled by the Quint ambassadors due to unforeseen circumstances. No new meeting date has been set to date.

The Quint countries are the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy.

According to information that could be heard, the Quint ambassadors have intensified their activities regarding the issue of state property, especially after the adoption of the Law on the Southern Gas Interconnection BiH - Croatia, which provides for the construction of a gas pipeline in BiH and Croatia that would supply American liquefied gas from the Krk LNG terminal.

At the same time as diplomatic activities regarding state property are accelerating, High Representative Christian Schmidt has informed the members of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) that he is withdrawing from this position, and activities have been initiated to elect a new High Representative.

At the beginning of April, the OHR once again pointed to the position of the Constitutional Court of BiH regarding state property.

"The Constitutional Court has been very clear: the state is the holder of ownership rights over state property, and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate issues of state property.

The prohibition of disposal is, above all, a means of protecting the interests of the state in this process and ensuring compliance with the relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH. Within the prohibition of disposal, there is a mechanism that allows for special exceptions if it concerns the public interest, and this is certainly one of the ways to resolve the current blockade of important investment and development projects," the OHR stated.

The prohibition of disposal of state property has been in effect since 2005 by the decision of the then High Representative Paddy Ashdown.

Although the Commission for State Property, Determination and Distribution of State Property, Determination of Rights and Obligations of BiH, Entities and Brčko District of BiH in the Management of State Property was established by the Decision on the Establishment of the Commission for State Property at the end of 2004, and the amendment to the Decision on Establishment concerning the composition of the Council of Ministers of BiH was made in 2018, from then until today, a new composition of the Commission has never been appointed, despite several urgencies, which has halted the work of that commission.

And while they were avoiding their obligations, certain institutions that were supposed to delegate a member to the Commission were registering state property, as is the case with the Republican Administration for Geodetic and Property Affairs of Republika Srpska, which registered forests to the entity of RS.

One of the topics of discussion between Krišto and the Quint ambassadors should be the unblocking of the Commission for State Property.