BETWEEN ČOVIĆ AND THE STATE The Trojka Against 'Kovačević'

Analysis by the Patria News Agency

The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of "Kovačević v. Bosnia and Herzegovina", delivered exactly one year ago, has caused a series of reactions in domestic and international public opinion, which were mostly positive, except, of course, for those coming from ethno-nationalist circles gathered in and around HDZ and SNSD.

In that judgment, it was established that the applicant Slaven Kovačević's right to actively elect all members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to influence the election of delegates to the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he currently does not have, was violated, because as a resident of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity, his active right to vote for the House of Peoples ceases with the vote for the deputies of the cantonal assembly in which he lives. In his lawsuit, Kovačević did not use his ethnic affiliation, because in a democratic world, ethnic affiliation cannot be linked to the active right to vote.

All of this looks great and very good for Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially considering the parts of the judgment that explicitly called for abandoning the model or principle of ethnic political representation and transitioning to civic political representation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the standard in all Council of Europe countries, and simultaneously in European Union countries.

There is nothing controversial about that, except for the controversial attitude of the political group called "Trojka", which has made and continues to make "superhuman" efforts to prevent the "Kovačević" judgment in any way or at least significantly damage it. How else can their intentions be interpreted than as a desperate need to please HDZ wherever they can, even by doing illegal things, in order to protect their own positions. It is clear that Trojka's hatred for Željko Komšić and the people around him is much greater than Trojka's love for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the only rational explanation for all their actions.

Let us recall that it was discussed in the public sphere that the mandate of the previous agents of the Council of Ministers before the European Court of Human Rights expired in mid-2021, i.e., before Kovačević even sent his lawsuit to Strasbourg, and that none of the Trojka members even scratched themselves about this fact. Let's be honest and say that only Minister Zukan Helez reacted towards Strasbourg, when the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers Borjana Krišto, independently and without a decision from the Council of Ministers, engaged in unauthorized communication with the European Court of Human Rights.

What is the problem? There are several problems, but they all stem from the illegal actions of the Council of Ministers in this case, in a way that allowed the agents of the Council of Ministers to communicate with Strasbourg even though their mandate had expired, which is at best illegal and unauthorized conduct. Citing one judgment of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which orders the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees to register these individuals, then acting agents, with the competent tax administration for a special situation and clearly defined persons, only children can consider this as active legitimacy for representing the state before an international court, but for Trojka, it is obviously a sufficient, albeit legally unfounded, argument.

To make matters worse, one of these agents, Monika Mijić, with the help of Trojka, is appointed for the fourth time as acting agent, even though the relevant Law on Administration clearly stipulates that the same person can be appointed as acting agent a maximum of two times. The story that acting agents can remain in the position of acting agent indefinitely because some irreparable damage might occur (what kind of damage?) is again a story for children, because acting agents are not civil servants in leadership positions, to whom that provision might apply.

These are ad-hoc appointed individuals, to whom the provision of the Law on Administration regarding a maximum of two ad-hoc appointments as acting agent applies. In addition, there is a justified suspicion that Monika Mijić has been in the position of secretary for special tasks for over 10 years, although the Law on Civil Service in the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina clearly stipulates that the maximum period is 10 years and no one can perform this duty for longer.

In other words, Mijić is possibly an illegally appointed person on two grounds. All of this was the reason for the state deputy Zlatan Begić to file a criminal complaint against Borjana Krišto, Chairperson of the Council of Ministers, then the relevant minister Sevlid Hurtić as the proposer of these illegal appointments, and other persons who participated in this, according to Begić, illegal appointment from March 2024. So, Monika Mijić is illegally appointed for the fourth time as acting agent and no one from Trojka does anything.

The mandate of the latest appointed acting agents of the Council of Ministers expired in July 2024, and the Council of Ministers, certainly due to Zlatan Begić's criminal complaint, did not appoint new ones, because they would have to appoint Monika Mijić for the fifth time in a row, which according to the Criminal Procedure Code would be a repetition of the same criminal offense, which is resolved by some measure, for example, detention. And again, Trojka does nothing.

Their entire rhetoric, that "those before them" were bad and did all sorts of things, falls apart with this example, because it is a big question what "those before them" would have done and whether they would have allowed such a salvo of illegal appointments.

To make matters even more interesting, Monika Mijić, known to the public as "a candidate for everything", was a candidate for judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH, then for judge of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH, then for various positions in the HJPC, then for judge of the European Court of Human Rights, for which she needs, of course, the support of HDZ, and through them the support of Trojka, which she has despite her illegal appointment as acting agent.

The situation here is quite clear. Trojka has put itself at the service of HDZ, that is now known to everyone, but that they are willing to go this far, surely none of their voters have ever even thought about it. Instead of supporting the "Kovačević" judgment, which is turning Bosnia and Herzegovina into a normal and democratic country, according to all European standards, their attitude can best be illustrated by Dragan Mioković's statement after the election of Marin Vukoja to the Constitutional Court of BiH, after the Venice Commission clearly and unequivocally stated what practice must be followed regarding the minimum criteria, which Marin Vukoja does not meet even in the wildest scenarios. Mioković told the media after Vukoja's election: "The election of Marin Vukoja is an excellently done job" and thus actually sent the message that everything contrary to European standards is nothing but an excellently done job in the eyes of Trojka. They have the same attitude towards the "Kovačević" judgment, whose eventual overturning these same Trojka members will consider an excellently done job, but in favor of HDZ, and against the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

If they had wanted to, which they didn't, the Trojka members could have helped, through the mechanisms in the Council of Ministers, to make the "Kovačević" judgment final, so that they could move closer to European standards through it. A single letter to Strasbourg would have been enough, for example, from the relevant minister Sevlid Hurtić, i.e., a person who does not belong to the current parliamentary majority because his party has no deputies in the state parliament, to even belong to the position or opposition.

Thus, instead of European standards, the members of Trojka have chosen HDZ standards, derived from UZP and other aids, and they will continue to sell us the story about "those before them". Where Bosnia and Herzegovina is in all of this, they clearly do not care.

They can no longer sell the story that they are some pro-Bosnian forces, because their actions day by day show that they are not. That is why, for all of us who believe in this country, Kovačević's victory is nothing other than the victory of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in fact, the victory of all of us who believe in this country, while the Trojka members seem to be on a completely different side. Whether for better or worse, you be the judge.