TRUTHS AND LIES ABOUT THE LJUBIĆ RULING: How HDZ and the Trojka Manipulate Facts, Invent Terms, and Deceive the Public!

By Rasim Belko

While HDZ Bosnia and Herzegovina persistently sells us fog about the alleged "implementation of the Ljubić ruling" and "legitimate representation," and the Trojka, like students who haven't read their assignments, falls into a trap, it's time to lift the veil on this political deception and prove to the public what is crystal clear to anyone who can read the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Law on the Council of Ministers.

To begin with – the ruling in the Ljubić case has nothing to do with the Presidency of BiH. Yes, you read that correctly. Božo Ljubić did not seek an assessment of the constitutionality of the provisions concerning the election of members of the Presidency of BiH at all. This is clearly stated on the first pages of that decision. Therefore, when Čović and his team start spouting phrases about how they are there "to implement Ljubić at all levels," know that they are shamelessly lying. The ruling concerned exclusively the composition of the House of Peoples of the Federation of BiH and NOTHING MORE.

And what happened with that? Well, Christian Schmidt, in his Murphy-like endeavors, has already imposed decisions that de facto implemented the Ljubić case, which Schmidt himself admitted. Therefore, that case is closed, implementation is done, and everything else that HDZ is trying to pass off is pure manipulation.

HDZ's mantra about "legitimate representation at all levels" stems from the descriptive part of the reasoning of the Ljubić ruling, not from its binding part. It is not a decisive norm, it is a comment. And it does not say anything close to what Čović claims. HDZ's spin kitchen skillfully takes one sentence out of context and builds a story around it that serves the purpose of cementing HDZ's position, whereby they would secure their member of the Presidency in the long run.

To clarify, this does not automatically mean that they are trying to ensure the equal rights of BiH Croats through manipulation, because no Croat from Vitez, through another Croatian party, can become a member of the Presidency if Čović's model becomes law. This is the same way they convince you that the "spirit of Dayton" means something, even though Dayton is an international agreement, not a philosophical text for interpretation.

The Trojka, specifically Elmedin Konaković, provides a special level of comedy, who even after two years in power doesn't know how to dismiss ministers in the Council of Ministers of BiH. In these past few months, the voted "initiative for dismissal" of ministers Košarac and Amidžić means absolutely nothing.

According to Article 15 of the Law on the Council of Ministers, only the Chairperson Borjana Krišto can propose a dismissal. Let's repeat: an initiative can be voted on in both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, but if Borjana decides to ignore it – there is no dismissal.

Especially since the law does not recognize the institute of reconstruction of the Council of Ministers at all. It's like trying to find a corner kick in a basketball game. It doesn't exist. The legally illiterate adventurism of the Trojka becomes dangerous when they package it in a demagogic narrative about "political responsibility," while actually demonstrating their own ignorance.

In summary, HDZ BiH is building its ethno-separatist policy on lies, invented legal constructs, and manipulations of rulings that never even addressed what they claim they did. The Trojka, incapable of reading the law and the ruling, serves as a useful idiot in this process.

It is time for the public in Bosnia and Herzegovina to understand that there is no "Ljubić ruling on the BiH Presidency." That "legitimate representation" at all levels is a fiction from HDZ's political manifestos. That Schmidt's decisions have already implemented the Ljubić case. And that ministers cannot be dismissed by an initiative.

For too long, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been struggling with the creation of political Latinism packaged in HDZ's manifesto for the rights of BiH Croats. That struggle is further complicated by the active participation of official Zagreb and their tentacles in Brussels. Because Zagreb knows that if Sarajevo were to agree to the HDZ manifesto at some point, Croatia would have an open path to developing a plan for the annexation of parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the creation of a Banovina of Croatia.

What the parties in Sarajevo have lacked the courage to do so far, but should soon use as an agenda, is to ignore any attempt at so-called electoral reform based on HDZ's manipulations of something that does not exist. Because neither what is coming as an EU request for electoral law reform, nor what the "Ljubić" ruling represented, are even remotely similar to the agenda that Dragan Čović and HDZ are imposing.