Consensus on Ukraine Not Reached

The BiH Presidency held a session where the situation in Ukraine and the proposed resolution text titled “Territorial Integrity of Ukraine”, which will be submitted to the UN General Assembly for a vote on March 27, 2014, were discussed.

The US resolution was co-sponsored by 41 UN member states, including all EU countries, Moldova, Georgia, Montenegro, Turkey, Canada, etc. From the region, BiH, Macedonia, and Serbia did not co-sponsor the resolution.

 The Chairman of the BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegović and member of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić voted for the Resolution, but the Serb member of the BiH Presidency Nebojša Radmanović did not, and due to the 2:1 voting ratio, a consensus on adopting the Resolution text was not reached.

 In accordance with Article 42, Paragraph 1 b) and Paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the BiH Presidency (“Official Gazette of BiH”, number: 10/13 and 32/13), the Chairman of the BiH Presidency will include this item as mandatory at the next session.

At today's session, the BiH Presidency also considered the consent to join the statements of the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton on the introduction of restrictive measures, given the actions that encourage or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of Ukraine.

We remind you that BiH did not join the statements, which it was supposed to do according to the Stabilization and Association Agreement. As announced by the Serb member of the BiH Presidency Nebojša Radmanović last week, at today's session he maintained his earlier stance and voted against BiH joining this statement.

After the vote, the result was again 2:1, so no consensus was reached on this issue either.

In accordance with Article 42, Paragraph 1 b) and Paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the BiH Presidency (“Official Gazette of BiH”, number: 10/13 and 32/13), the Chairman of the BiH Presidency will include this item as mandatory at the next session.

We note that the foreign ministers of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and Great Britain will visit BiH tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to discuss the current political situation and the situation in Ukraine.