Joint Commissions of the BiH Parliament are being formed: OSA finally gets oversight

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) Dragan Čović has called for Wednesday, 15 January 2020, the 4th Session of the Joint Collegium of both houses of the PSBiH.

On the agenda are the determination of proposals for members of joint commissions of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, as well as the determination of proposals for members of permanent delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. Among the more significant commissions is certainly the one overseeing the work of the Intelligence-Security Agency, which has effectively had no oversight for a year.

Related text

Why are Tegeltija, Radončić, Komšić silent and when will the issue of appointing the OSA director be resolved

The previous mandate of the Joint Commission for Parliamentary Oversight of the Work of the Intelligence-Security Agency of BiH (OSA) was shaken by many internal affairs and undermined its credibility. One was the dismissal of Nikola Špirić (SNSD) from the position of chairman of the commission for parliamentary oversight of the work of OSA. Nikola Špirić was removed from that position due to falsification of documents, and his place was taken by Bariša Čolak (HDZ).

Members of the Commission are nominated in accordance with the principle of proportional representation of political parties in the House of Representatives. All three constituent peoples are represented in the Commission, and according to the law, it is chaired by someone from the opposition representatives.

Although Article 18 of the Law on OSA BiH stipulates that the chairman of this Commission must be a member of an opposition party represented in the PS BiH, this did not prevent Čolak from temporarily accepting to perform this function, which also tarnished the credibility of the work of the previous commission.

Also to be discussed is the determination of the Draft Conclusion on the establishment of a Temporary Joint Commission of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH for conducting the procedure for appointing the General Auditor of the Office for Audit of Institutions of BiH, as well as the determination of the Draft Conclusion on the establishment of a Temporary Joint Commission of both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH for the election of three members of the Management Board of the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance, one from the Bosniak, Croatian and Serbian peoples, for a term of three years.

Representatives and delegates will also determine the Draft Conclusion on the appointment of a representative of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH to the Working Group for monitoring the situation and activities related to the possible construction of a nuclear waste repository at the Trgovska Gora location.