Next week brings no resolution: EU path obligations unmet, state coalition no longer has purpose

By: Amra Vrabac

Next week will not bring a resolution that would continue Bosnia and Herzegovina's EU path, which included several obligations for BiH to get the green light for further progress after the opening of negotiations in March 2024.

The budget of BiH institutions for 2025 has not been adopted, the chief negotiator for the EU has not been appointed, the laws on the Court of BiH and the new Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council have not been adopted, and for four months the political situation in BiH has been complicated with no end in sight.

The leadership of the RS entity at the end of February adopted several unconstitutional laws that were qualified as an attack on the constitutional order. One of the suspects is Milorad Dodik, but he has never been questioned by the BiH Prosecutor's Office because he avoids summons. Because of this, the Court of BiH ordered him into custody, but Dodik is still a free man. He travels, works, threatens, insults, blackmails, blocks... He is awaiting the verdict of the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH in the case of non-compliance with the decisions of the High Representative.

A session of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly is scheduled for Thursday, June 26, but it is already doomed to be interrupted, given that the agenda includes the removal of SNSD officials. For four months now, Nikola Špirić and SNSD officials have been avoiding their dismissal by leaving sessions or violating the Rules of Procedure, which is why the Bosniak Club, along with several other delegates, has been leaving sessions of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.

The HDZ BiH and SNSD hold the quorum of the House with three delegates each, but they have lost the necessary majority to make decisions. This was also shown at the last session when eight delegates voted against several laws. One of them was the Proposal for the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (first reading), proposed by the Council of Ministers of BiH, under an expedited procedure. Incidentally, this law first appeared on the agenda of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, which is not the usual order.

Both the HJPC and the delegates, as well as other interested parties, have raised a number of objections to this law. The HJPC confirmed this week that a working group will be formed to incorporate the proposed HJPC amendments into the law. They are working on this together with the Ministry of Justice of BiH.

When it comes to the Law on the Court of BiH, the Council of Ministers of BiH did not consider the proposal of the Ministry of Justice of BiH, while the proposal of Predrag Kojović did not pass at the session of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly on June 12. The proposal for the Law on the Court of BiH, submitted by Marina Pendeš at the session of the House of Peoples on June 6, requested that the law be considered under the regular procedure, so it is now not on the upcoming urgent session.

It is evident that the existing coalition at the state level is not functioning, and at the Council of Ministers of BiH there is no passage of all agenda items, but rather from item to item. The President of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, clearly stated on Friday that there is no possibility for the reconstruction of the Council of Ministers of BiH. He remains in a pact with the SNSD because the attempt to replace the SNSD's seat with the opposition from the RS has failed. The parties of the "Troika" have set a deadline until the end of June to resolve the burning issues and stated that after that date the coalition no longer makes sense.

"After June, nothing in this country will be the same. The Troika wants to bring this country closer to the EU, and we have partially succeeded in that. If we lose June as the month in which we can open negotiations, I see no purpose in the existence of the coalition with the SNSD and HDZ. I no longer see any room for any calculation," said Elmedin Konaković at the end of April.

For months, the issue of the leadership of SIPA has not been resolved, which the RS authorities consider "unconstitutional" even though the Constitutional Court of BiH invalidated all laws adopted in the RS National Assembly on February 27.
The SNSD does not want to vote for the deputy director of SIPA, and although they previously stated that they do not want to appoint a deputy without also appointing a director, they changed their minds at the last session. Now they do not want to support any appointment.

At the same time, SIPA has been without a director since March because Darko Ćulum left the position at the order of the RS authorities. His resignation, precisely due to the obstructions of the SNSD, was not accepted by the Council of Ministers of BiH.

At this moment, no one is offering a solution on how to establish a lawful leadership of SIPA.

In his address today in Modriča, Dodik said that BiH must also turn to global trends and that it is questionable whether the European Union will exist in five years. He also stated that the new Law on the Court of BiH is not acceptable and that the RS wants to strengthen its constitutional position.