Palmer and Eichhorst arrive in BiH, is there an agreement on the Election Law?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - In the middle of next week, US envoy for electoral reform Matthew Palmer and EU representative Angelina Eichhorst are expected to arrive in Sarajevo, who had planned to continue talks on the Election Law but cancelled them in December due to the complicated political situation. At that time, in a joint statement by the EU Delegation and the US Embassy, political leaders were told that they could not make maximalist demands that lead to further ethnic divisions.

The President of the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH, Dragan Čović, confirmed to the media on Friday that talks with the US administration on the Election Law took place in Mostar that day. In today's interview with Fena, Čović emphasized that relations in the Federation of BiH need to be stabilized, and then at the level of the entire BiH.

He announced the finalization of the negotiation process on the BiH Election Law, but also an attempt to unblock state institutions, which began at the end of July 2021 by representatives from the RS led by Milorad Dodik.

The process of talks on amendments to the Election Law, which will implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, also includes experts from the Venice Commission, who will check the compliance of existing proposals with what is an acceptable legal position within the European space.

He called on all political actors in BiH to do everything to primarily stabilize the security situation in the country and that "all those who rattle their weapons understand that here, in line with the BiH Constitution, we must respect all that is the value of BiH, the institutions of BiH, and that everything we do must be in accordance with the Constitution and laws of BiH." He adds that the coordination mechanism must be respected in order to reach a harmonized position when it comes to reconciling competencies at different levels.

"I call on those who lead policies in BiH to sit down together and put all open issues on the table. Dialogue has no alternative, and talks should be approached immediately. If we look at this in the right way, we can very quickly seek solutions for all these other topics that are a prerequisite for the European story, as well as for economic and social stability. We have countless topics we need to discuss, but openly and without hidden agendas. And what is particularly important to me is that we have intensive communication between representatives of the Bosniak and Croatian peoples. Everything else, I fear, can easily fit into the ambitions of some outside this country, for whom BiH might serve as an alibi for some other global endeavors," Čović said for Fena.