State Property Not Yet Registered: BiH Further from NATO

The annual NATO summit is scheduled for July 8 and 9 this year in Warsaw, Poland. By then, Bosnia and Herzegovina should have made visible progress in registering prospective military property to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, if it wants the Activation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for BiH into NATO. Without registering military property to the state, BiH cannot hope to join NATO. Unfortunately, time is running out and nothing has been done on this issue yet.

The Minister of Defense of BiH Marina Pendeš announced at the end of January this year, in an interview for Oslobođenje, the activation of MAP by June this year.

- The plan is to continue the process of registering prospective military locations, which we significantly intensified last year. You know that the Legal Counsel of BiH, for the needs of the Ministry of Defense, is carrying out this registration, so by the sixth month, we would fully justifiably expect the activation of MAP for our country. This does not mean that we will be admitted to NATO, but it means the activation of MAP and new challenges for all of us - said Pendeš.

Progress in registering military property to the state of BiH has so far been achieved only in the Federation of BiH. Major steps have been taken. As many as 23 military facilities have been registered to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the other hand, there is no progress in Republika Srpska. The authorities of this BiH entity have not registered a single prospective military facility to BiH. They have even gone a step further. Instead of registering military property to the state, they are registering it to the entity. Although this is a direct violation of the Law on the Temporary Prohibition of Disposal of State Property in BiH. It was passed in March 2005 by the High Representative Paddy Ashdown. That law is still in force.

Contrary to the law, the Minister of Internal Affairs of RS Dragan Lukač and the Mayor of Laktaši Municipality Miroslav Kodžoman signed an agreement on the transfer of ownership in the Zalužani Barracks in Laktaši Municipality on Wednesday, whereby 35 hectares of land will become the property of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS.

Also, the Appellate Panel of the Court of BiH has not yet ruled on the verdict of the Court of BiH, which last year ordered the registration of property of the former JNA in Han Pijesak to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite experts warning that admission to NATO is perhaps even more important for BiH than admission to the EU, writes Patria.