Two Draganas and one Tomo: Demining process around the Southern Interconnection law, everything will be done quickly!

Written by: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

Political blockades and games surrounding the adoption of the Law on the Southern Interconnection have spilled over into the functioning of the Parliament of the Federation, so the House of Peoples of that parliament for some reason, even seven days after the adoption of the Law in the House of Representatives, has not received a notification letter with the adopted Law, accompanying amendments and conclusions.

The job of informing the upper house about laws adopted in the lower house is routine, but in the case of the Southern Interconnection, it got stuck somewhere. Where and why, the public would have to be explained by the presiding officer Dragan Mioković, because if the services of the House of Representatives are not doing their job, he is responsible for ensuring that the job gets done.

However, as we learn, and we would say through the back door, the Proposal of the Law on the Southern Interconnection with amendments has entered the House of Peoples. This happened thanks to the President of the Bosniak Club Muamer Zukić, who took over the Law on the Southern Interconnection from the House of Representatives, and then, with the help of a large part of the Bosniak Club, submitted it into the procedure in the House of Peoples.

So, the games in the House of Representatives were in vain, but the HDZ and partners from the Troika have their jockey in the House of Peoples as well. As I learn, Tomislav Martinović, the presiding officer of the House of Peoples, promised to schedule a session of the collegium this week and set a date for the session of the House of Peoples, in order to ensure alignment with cantonal assemblies and sessions of that body.

However, Thursday is coming to an end and Martinović has neither scheduled the collegium nor answered the phone, whether called by delegates or journalists. It is therefore clear that he, in the position he holds, will serve the attempt of the current federal government to "drag out" the adoption of the Proposal of the Law on the Southern Interconnection until the departure of Michael Murphy, the American ambassador whose pressure was crucial.

After the President of the Bosniak Club Zukić submitted the Proposal of the Law to the registry, from today a 45-day deadline runs for Martinović to convene a session with this law as an agenda item.

However, given that it is expected that Martinović will continue the practice of dragging things out, in the Bosniak Club they have a mechanism to prevent him from doing so.

If he fails to set a session date even tomorrow, the President of the Bosniak Club Muamer Zukić will collect the signatures of 16 delegates and demand the holding of a session of the House of Peoples. In that case, Martinović will have a deadline of 14 days to convene the session.

If that does not happen, i.e., if after the request and the 14-day deadline Martinović does not convene the session, the deputy presiding officers of the House of Peoples will have a deadline of seven days to do the same.

Therefore, no matter how much HDZ's Dragan Čović, and apparently some officials of the Troika, obstruct the parliamentary path of the Proposal of the Law on the Southern Interconnection, it will be completed within 45 days at the latest, and very likely sooner.

Given that the American ambassador Murphy met today with the imposed Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić and lectured him on the need to restructure BH Gas, it would not be amiss for him to visit the leadership of the House of Peoples and explain to them that the Proposal of the Law on the Southern Interconnection must be adopted as soon as possible.

Because, as is being said these days, it is a national interest of the United States and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and standing in the way are the Russophilia and partocracy of Dragan Čović and his hajduks.

The pressure on the House of Representatives was visible and strong, why there is hesitation towards the House of Peoples I do not know, but it is clear that by mid-January at the latest, the legal solution on the Southern Interconnection will be before the federal delegates. And then, to each his own.