(NON)RESPECT OF JUDGMENTS 'Joint Institutions' unconstitutional, are we all facing the same fate as with the unconstitutional 'county'!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

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Reactions from Republika Srpska are not subsiding after the Constitutional Court of BiH, simply put, determined that the term 'joint institutions' is unconstitutional.

The advisor to the president of Republika Srpska, Radovan Kovačević, also published on his Twitter account the first printed edition of the BiH Constitution published by the OHR and the introductory text by High Representative Carl Bildt, which also mentions joint bodies.

In the introductory text, signed by Bildt, it is clearly stated: "...and transfers important functions and powers of the government to the two entities that BiH consists of, namely the FBiH and Republika Srpska, but also leaves to the JOINT BODIES those functions that are of vital importance for the functioning of a modern state.".

When deciding on the request of Denis Zvizdić for an assessment of the constitutionality of Article 5 of the Law on the BiH Flag, the Constitutional Court of BiH determined that this article, in the part that reads 'joint institutions or institutions managed by joint institutions or which are accountable to joint institutions', is not in accordance with the BiH Constitution and repealed it.

In this decision, the Constitutional Court stated that by adding the qualifier 'joint' before the term 'institutions', the legislator changed the meaning of the article of the BiH Constitution which stipulates the existence exclusively of 'BiH institutions'.

However, it is known that many officials, and often analysts and media workers, use the term 'joint institutions'! The question is how much all of this will be respected, and whether constitutions and laws containing the now unconstitutional 'joint institutions' will be changed.

Unfortunately, examples from history teach us that judgments do not mean much!

We remind you that the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH, back on July 7, 1998, made a decision acting on the appeal of the then Prime Minister of the FBiH, Edhem Bičakčić, which clearly established that the use of the term county in the articles of the Constitution of the West Herzegovina Canton is not in accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, the Constitutions of four cantons in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina still use the term 'county'.

This word is used by political representatives of HNS, as well as journalists, and it has not disappeared from the public sphere either!