Novaković: If Dautbašić's pre-trial detention is lifted, he can be appointed minister on February 16

Member of the Commission for the Preparation of the Election of the Council of Ministers of BiH Momčilo Novaković claims that the appointment of Bakir Dautbašić as Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH, if he is released from one-month pre-trial detention on February 13, will be put before the deputies on February 16, reports the Patria News Agency.

Novaković, who is also an MP of the NDP in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, said that in case of a different scenario, a new candidate should be sought or an adequate replacement found within the Council of Ministers of BiH.

"We have not had a minister in this position for a long time, and important processes that have been initiated, such as resolving transport policy, digitalization, financing of public services, and others, impose an obligation to resolve this issue," Novaković stated.

He assessed that the extension of Dautbašić's detention could jeopardize coalition relations between SDA and SBB.

"If the situation continues to complicate, it is not excluded that it will produce problems within the Bosniak body and lead to general instability," Novaković told "Press RS".

He believes that possible complications would not jeopardize the existing parliamentary majority at the BiH level to the extent that a new majority would be formed, but they would certainly lead to instability.

"Instability would also create problems in the implementation of the reform agenda and everything we have committed to fulfilling in the coming period," Novaković concluded.