Nurković: The City Hall should serve students as it did until 1992.

There is enough space in the City Hall to house the National and University Library of BiH, as the current conditions under which the NUL BiH operates are inadequate, said Ahmed Nurković, president of the Student Parliament of the University of Sarajevo, for the BiH news agency Patria (NAP).

- It should certainly serve students, and we as SPUS support the NUL BiH and the director's efforts to maintain their work under the current conditions, and of course, the City Hall would be an ideal space, as it was until 1992 – said Nurković.

However, that not everything is so clear is shown by the dispute over ownership and division of space in the City Hall between the NUL BiH and the Sarajevo City Administration, led by Mayor Ivo Komšić and his deputy Aljoša Čampara. A solution could come through legal channels, given that the NUL BiH has requested the Municipal Court in Sarajevo to clarify its status.

On the other hand, city officials accuse the director of NUL BiH, Ismet Ovčina, of now "problematizing and bureaucratizing the opening of the City Hall for visits and the performance of the Vienna Philharmonic on June 28," when the City Hall is to be officially opened. Interestingly, it was the city officials themselves who, without occupancy permits, symbolically opened the City Hall for 300 guests on May 9, 2014. Namely, just a day later, the red carpet was removed and a protective fence was installed because the work on the building was not completed, and visitors were not allowed entry.

Director Ovčina did not attend the opening of the City Hall; instead, he watched the renovated "old lady" from the other side of the Miljacka with the gathered citizens.

A clear message was also given to the city officials by the spokesperson for the EU Delegation in BiH, Andy McGuffie, who a few days ago stated that the City Administration is not solely responsible for the City Hall, but that there are two other institutions, namely the Ministry of Civil Affairs of BiH, as well as the National and University Library, which will be housed in that building.

We remind you that the City Hall was declared a national monument of BiH by the decision of the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments in 2006. The explanation of this decision states:

- In its 110-year history, the building has changed its purpose: from the day of its grand opening on April 20, 1896, it was used as the City Hall, then as the City Court, and in the period 1910-1911, it was the seat of the Bosnian Parliament (Sabor). According to some data, it was also the temporary and short-term seat of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from 1948 to 1992, it housed the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And to make everything clearer, the Commission's Decision states that the land registry extract, land parcel no. 97, k.o. Sarajevo, z.k. entry number XCVIII/19, document issued by the Municipal Court in Sarajevo on June 27, 2006; the City Hall (Vijećnica) with its premises is registered as state property, and the National Library of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo is registered as the holder of the right of disposal, reports Patria.