Emperor Marinko Čavara!

In the past few days, the Bosnian public has been discussing the move of the newly appointed President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Marinko Čavara, who ordered the current FBiH Government and other legal entities of the executive branch to suspend the adoption of decisions not necessary for the functioning of the FBiH until the constitution of a new executive authority, writes istinomjer.ba, as reported by Patria.

The issued order pertains to the appointment of personnel and new hirings in institutions of the executive branch and state-owned enterprises.

The controversy over this move arose regarding the question of whether the President of the FBiH even has the authority for such action. As a legal basis and justification for his order, the President of the FBiH invoked the provisions of the FBiH Constitution and the Instruction of the Central Election Commission on the application of Article 1.8 paragraph (4) and Article 1.3a paragraph (3) of the BiH Election Law.

- This is the FBiH Constitution. Does anyone have a dilemma about what it means to be the head of the executive branch? Does anyone have a dilemma about what it means when someone is someone else's boss? I issued the order also referring to the instruction issued by the Central Election Commission on the incompatibility of duties in the post-election period, when certain persons elected to legislative bodies also hold executive positions in government. We now have a situation where the FBiH Government has six so-called ministers who were elected and accepted mandates in legislative bodies. These are incompatible duties according to the Election Law. The CEC said in its instruction that they can only perform necessary tasks until the election of new government bodies – said Čavara.

If one looks at the FBiH Constitution, it is evident that it clearly defines and exhaustively lists the division of executive competencies between the President of the FBiH and other executive bodies. Thus, Article 7, point a) of the FBiH Constitution determines the competencies of the President of the FBiH.

- Article 7.

Unless otherwise provided by this Constitution:

a) The President of the Federation is responsible for:

(I) appointing the Government, heads of diplomatic missions, judges of the Constitutional Court of the Federation upon the proposal of candidates by the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, in accordance with Articles IV. B. 5, IV. B. 8 and IV. C. 6;

(III) conducting consultations regarding the appointment of ombudsmen and judges in accordance with Articles II. B. 1. (2) and IV. C. 6. b);

(IV) signing decisions of the Parliament of the Federation after their adoption in accordance with Articles IV. A. 17 to 19;

(V) signing and ratifying international agreements on behalf of the Federation;

(VI) granting pardons for offenses established by federal laws, except for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Thus, the constitutional provisions do not provide a legal basis for the aforementioned action of the President of the FBiH. Namely, the FBiH Constitution does not contain provisions allowing the President of the FBiH to suspend the work of any other executive body, including the FBiH Government.

The above was confirmed by Nedim Ademović, an expert in constitutional law, emphasizing that there is not a single constitutional or legal provision that allows one executive body to interfere in the execution of the competencies of others, and that therefore the President does not have the right to issue an order to suspend activities prescribed by the Constitution and law as competencies of the Government.

Commenting on Čavara's moves, the still current Prime Minister of the FBiH, Nermin Nikšić, told the newly appointed President that all problems he believes he has with the FBiH Government can be resolved by appointing a new Government, stressing that the Constitution and laws are clear regarding the powers of the President and the FBiH Government.

From all the above, we can conclude that the statement by Marinko Čavara that such a move is enabled by the provisions of the entity's constitution is untrue.