Return the option of one BiH Presidency member to the procedure!

The Committee of the Council of Europe adopted a milder version of conclusions on BiH last week, and did not request its exclusion from this organization due to the blockade of the Sejdić-Finci ruling's implementation.

However, as the BiH news agency Patria (NAP) has learned, a much harsher set of conclusions for BiH was prepared, but through the activity of our diplomatic representation in Strasbourg, milder conclusions were adopted, and the country avoided new threats of sanctions.

As Zikreta Ibrahimović, deputy BiH agent before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, stated for NAP, BiH's obligation in the "Sejdić-Finci" case remains, but it is now clear that both the Council of Europe and the Court want the ruling to be implemented correctly and in accordance with the opinion of the Venice Commission.

Ibrahimović concludes that the latest conclusions of the Committee of the Council of Europe return things to 2010, i.e., they re-involve the Venice Commission, which gave its recommendations at that time.

- Authorities should now involve domestic experts and the Venice Commission in the urgent drafting of amendments to the Constitution and the Election Law, as well as a series of bylaws, and submit them to the Parliamentary procedure under an expedited procedure. The responsibility for this lies primarily with the Council of Ministers of BiH, and then with the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Presidency – says Ibrahimović.

According to her, the amendments must not go beyond the scope of the ruling in a way that opens new sources of discrimination, meaning changes cannot favor the disintegration of BiH.

- Essentially, this means one president for the whole of BiH with lesser powers and limiting the issue of vital national interest to a few important points. This formulation of changes would be acceptable to the Committee of Ministers of the CoE and lead to a CoE Resolution on closing the case. Progress would also be made by simply submitting amendments of this type to the parliamentary procedure – concludes Ibrahimović.