DF Club held a press conference: On the path to the EU, we must respect the Opinion of the Venice Commission

(Patria) - A press conference of the Democratic Front MPs Club in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament was held today in the building of the FBiH Parliament.

The topic of the conference was the Opinion of the Venice Commission, which stated that ethnic affiliation cannot be a criterion for the election of judges of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

MP Mahir Mešalić said that this is proof that the election of Marin Vukoja was unconstitutional.

"This means that, although we sent a request on April 24 to the club presidents not to do so until the opinion of the Venice Commission, they knew the outcome and ignored it, fulfilling Dragan Čović's wishes. The Trojka and HDZ elected this in the way they did. We still have some legal remedies left. We consider this a victory for the citizens of BiH who advocate for a state that will not be based on ethnic principles. This is a victory for the idea of a civic state," said Mešalić.

He added that he will present these arguments to the Speaker of the House, Dragan Mioković, today.

"He lied to all citizens that they are not violating the rules of procedure, that they are acting according to the Constitution," said Mešalić.

He said that in EU countries, the opinion of the Venice Commission is considered on par with a judgment of the court in Strasbourg.

"On our path to the EU, we must respect the opinion of the Venice Commission. I know that the ruling majority will try to relativize this. If they had any morals, they would resign immediately, especially Mioković, who was elected on the wings of Vukoja, or rather, through the political bargaining of HDZ and Trojka. We will continue to fight for BiH regardless of the attacks. We are witnessing attacks on the Constitutional Court by Dodik and Čović, and their main goal is to control this institution, and we will try to prevent that," said Mešalić.

MP Alma Kratina said that this opinion of the Venice Commission is a "wind in the back of civic BiH".

"We get confirmation from time to time that our story is not a utopia," said Kratina.

DF MP Dennis Gratz said that the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights will come to the agenda sooner or later, and that there is no discussion about them.

"Sooner or later, our government and our state will have to face the fact that they will have to open an internal dialogue in BiH on how to implement each of these judgments," said Gratz.