Emergency session of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly lasting 14 minutes: Law on Prevention of Money Laundering adopted

(Patria) - The House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly today adopted the Proposal for the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorist Activities, after the Collegium of the House of Peoples declared itself before the session and reached an agreement to consider the law under urgent procedure. At today's session, only Želimir Nešković (SDS) was absent for justified reasons. At the previous session on January 31, SNSD delegates rejected the urgent procedure, and the law was not considered at that time.

Delegate Šefik Džaferović (SDA) said there is nothing questionable about this law.

"It is important and significant for BiH's European path. I think we should not have ended up in this situation. Last time we could have finished this, and we are wasting taxpayers' money for nothing. Thank you to those people who initiated the holding of this session, and I welcome the Collegium's decision to reach an agreement," said Džaferović.

Collegium member Nikola Špirić (SNSD) said that an agreement was reached to discuss it under urgent procedure, but
he proposes a conclusion instructing the secretaries of both houses of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly to correct, together with the proposer, the Council of Ministers of BiH, the normative-technical errors contained in the opinion of the Legislative-Legal Committee.

"We will vote for the law and give an incentive to partners to start harmonizing other laws, the Law on Conflict of Interest, the Law on Courts, the Election Law," said Špirić.

Dragan Čović said he is glad they are aligned in their actions today and that this is one of the laws needed for EU accession, i.e., accession negotiations.

"We have three or four left from the agreement of partners in the last month. I will equally call on you, wherever you operate, to try to create that harmony so that no one again tries to convince someone who loves this country more than another. When I received a document stating that we had not reached an agreement, I did not want to sign it because I knew an agreement could be reached, and we reached it. Without harmony, it will be difficult for someone else to open the doors of the EU for us. I am convinced that we will not lack wisdom to complete this entire job in the next seven to ten days as we planned," said Čović.

Radovan Kovačević (SNSD) said it is important to see the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, the Election Law, and the Law on the Constitutional Court of BiH on the agenda as soon as possible.

"And to resolve the issue of foreign judges, which are vital for the survival of BiH and the RS, we will certainly not give up on that," said Kovačević.

Safet Softić (SDA) said a bitter taste remains as to why we ended up in this situation.

"Today's session is initiated by the opposition club to encourage the majority to convene a session and adopt the law to avoid the Moneyval gray list. I cannot shake the feeling that there is so much idle time in the functioning of the parliamentary majority. What is the difference between the last session and today's? Could we not have adopted the same conclusion that Špirić proposes last time and not put ourselves in the position we are in? To encourage partners for other laws, I think that is not a topic for this discussion. The Collegium as a Commission reached an agreement only before the holding of this session, and that should be heard," said Softić.

Nikola Špirić's conclusion was supported by 14 delegates.

14 delegates voted for the Proposal for the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering, thus the law was adopted.