Who is bothered by Čampara and a strong police force: Minister rejects constructions by media close to HDZ

Written by: A. Vrabac

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After Večernji list BiH published an article, which was taken over by HMS, accusing the Federal Minister of Interior Aljoša Čampara of having a plan to abolish ten cantonal Interior Ministries and reorganize the police in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina along the lines of the Republika Srpska, Minister Čampara also reacted.

In a statement to the Patria News Agency, he said he rejects such claims with disgust, and that everything that happened at the meeting with the cantonal interior ministers is also stated in the minutes, which refute the writing of Večernji list and HMS.

“All ministers of the cantonal Interior Ministries were invited, both Bosniaks and Croats, and I will not discuss who responded. I most strongly reject the attempt at such constructions and insinuations,” the Federal Minister told Patria.

However, the question that arises is why, at this moment, the Croatian corps and HDZ need such a construction. The conclusion is evident from the very end of the article, which states that a Croat cannot be the head of police in the Federal Interior Ministry, so it is more than obvious that the problem is that the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not appoint Zoran Galić as director of the Federal Police Administration, just as the remaining candidates did not receive support. Both Večernji list and HMS should have only briefly searched the history of FPA directors and they would have seen that two Croats, Zlatko Miletić and Dragan Lukač, were at the head of the FPA. The second problem is the “recognition of the legitimacy of Croats who are not from HDZ.”

It was precisely from Minister Čampara, i.e., the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that the Independent Board of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested a subsequent statement regarding the selection of the FPA director, which the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina submitted to the Independent Board. In that conclusion, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina recommends annulling the previous competition and announcing a new one because the Government completed the voting procedure on July 8. In the meantime, while the Independent Board was seeking additional clarifications and buying time, Galić sued the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The next session of the Independent Board will be held on Monday, November 22, when it should finally be known whether a new competition for the FPA director will be announced.

Also, Večernji list BiH problematizes the proposal presented at the meeting of Interior Ministers to eliminate shortcomings in legislation, which was supported by those present because practice has also shown that some legal solutions are incomplete and could cause problems in practice.

One such example is the earlier Law on Internal Affairs, which, unlike the current law, clearly specified the procedure in case the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not select a candidate from the list proposed by the Independent Board, i.e., that the competition is repeated. It is precisely this legal vacuum that the Independent Board is now using and dragging out the decision on a new competition because there is neither a theoretical nor any other chance for the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to again declare on the earlier ranking list of the Independent Board.

In its article, Večernji list states that Minister Čampara placed on the agenda the item “strengthening the capacities of police structures in the fight against organized crime, corruption and terrorism and, which is particularly important, ‘protection of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina’” and states that “it is not known what that meant unless it is a response to the moves of the Republika Srpska, i.e., threats of armed conflicts, which is why, of course, Croatian ministers did not want to participate.”

In the official statement from the Federal Ministry of Interior on October 20, from the meeting that was held, which was also attended by representatives of international missions and embassies, the conclusions were specified, which were publicly and transparently published.

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The question is who is bothered by a depoliticized, strong and independent police force equipped for every form of fight against crime and corruption.