Konaković: We have seven days to finalise the Reform Agenda; Dodik's lackey cannot be appointed head of SIPA

(Patria) - Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konaković addressed the media after today's session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also commented on the decision of the Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milanko Kajganić to disband the prosecution team in the Dodik-Višković-Stevandić case, as well as on the situation in SIPA.

“We are still analysing Kajganić's decisions to disband teams dealing with one of the most interesting cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For someone to receive our support for any position in SIPA, they must swear to respect the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the constitution, the judiciary, and not political orders. So there is still no readiness on our part to resolve the issue of the director and deputy director of SIPA. There is also the key issue of the head of SIPA, why not elect him as well. That head must be someone whom Dodik will not call on the phone to stop the work; this can be resolved as a whole,” said Konaković.

Konaković said that SNSD is accustomed to appointing a name that listens to them.

“They function that way, they put forward the name of the SIPA director, who, like Kajganić, opens investigations against me based on what Košarac says in the media. That will not happen here. We reacted to the first list as well. We are still closely monitoring this; people who resemble Milorad Dodik's lackeys, who are supposed to enable him to remain free as long as possible, will never receive our support,” said Konaković.

He stated that he is not able to explain the situation with Darko Ćulum in detail from a legal perspective, but it is known that he submitted a resignation which was not accepted, and there is a question regarding his employment status, as he has not been coming to work for some time.

“So, Dodik called him and he moved to another position as an advisor to the director of the RS police. When everything is clear, we will support that,” added Konaković.

Speaking about the problems with sick leave in BHANSA, he said that there is still no willingness from Minister Srđan Amidžić to resolve this issue due to his insistence that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also pay the debt to Viadukt, which was incurred by the RS.

“He knows there are several models we agree on and would vote for, but he does not want to propose them; instead, he insists that the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina bear most of the costs of the lost lawsuit, and in the end, the entity of Republika Srpska will pay for it. I am not optimistic that this issue, as well as the budget issue due to the 'Viadukt' case, can be resolved quickly within our institutions. For now, the only possible option seems to be international intervention, for example by the High Representative, and it is more logical than ever to resolve this,” said Konaković.

Konaković concluded that at today's session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the most important items of the year was adopted, namely the Proposal for the Integrated Border Management Strategy and the Action Plan for the Implementation of the Integrated Border Management Strategy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Speaking about the Reform Agenda, Konaković said that the deadlines are short and that the document should be finalised within seven days.

“Once we clear that up, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina should adopt the document and send it to Brussels. If we all get to work, we can resolve this. The cantons have completed their part regarding the comments, and there should be no more of that,” said Konaković.