OHR postpones expert group meeting on state property law

(Patria) - The Office of the High Representative in BiH, led by Christian Schmidt, recently initiated the process of forming an expert group aimed at assisting in the drafting of the Law on the Management and Use of State Property of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the first meeting, which was scheduled for yesterday, has been postponed to a later date.

The expert group, comprised of international and foreign experts in this field, was intended to assist BiH institutions, specifically the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, in adopting the Law on the Management and Use of State Property, as mandated by the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH.
The expert group meeting was cancelled shortly after the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, concluded his official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Amidst various pressures, Milorad Dodik is increasingly issuing untruths for manipulative purposes regarding the resolution of the status of state property, while the issue of amendments to the Election Law of BiH is reaching a boiling point. 

Recently, for manipulative purposes, addressing primarily uninformed citizens of Republika Srpska, but above all his voter base, and possibly a less informed segment of the diplomatic community in BiH, he made false claims that the Federation of BiH, through its valid legal solutions, has established ownership of forests and forest land within the jurisdiction of the Federation.

However, this is not the first time Milorad Dodik has manipulated, distorted, and falsely stated not only legal solutions but even arbitrary constitutional interpretations of Annex 4, always and exclusively within the discourse of a composed state agenda. 

This entire manipulation is precisely a challenge to and disregard for the constitutional principle of state continuity of BiH from Article 1/1 of Annex 4 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, while favoring the concept of a composed state, which he has carefully defended by imposing the possibility of its acceptance.
Incidentally, the Constitutional Court of BiH has scheduled a session for December 2nd and 3rd in Sarajevo, where it is expected to consider the request of 24 deputies from the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH for resolving the dispute between BiH and Republika Srpska arising from the awarding of concessions, as announced by the court.

At the end of last year, 24 parliamentarians initiated proceedings, asking that judicial institution to annul the decision of Republika Srpska to grant concessions through a negotiated procedure for the construction and use of the Buk Bijela, Foča, and Paunci hydropower plants on the Drina River.

The appeal stated that decisions concerning state property, such as rivers on international borders, can only be made at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The hydropower project in the upper course of the Drina River envisages the construction of three hydropower plants: Buk Bijela, Foča, and Paunci, with financing from the power utilities of Serbia and the BiH entity Republika Srpska, amounting to 220 million euros.

In mid-May, the foundation stone was laid for the construction of the Buk Bijela hydropower plant, but the works were halted pending a decision from the Constitutional Court.

In the joint company Gornja Drina Hydroelectric System, it was agreed that Elektroprivreda Srbije would have a 51 percent share, and Elektroprivreda RS a 49 percent share.

(A.Č.Z.)