PARLIAMENTARY CONNECTION Mioković in Čović's grip for Vukojа, Marinković Lepić as ikebana of democracy!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

In February, there were no sessions of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For a month, representatives who decide on laws and the life of the Federation entity rested and likely “killed” time in expensive winter and summer resorts. Because, when you receive several thousand KM in salary for 29 non-working days that you haven't earned, it's quite clear that you can afford a luxury that at least two-thirds of citizens cannot.

And to make matters worse for the parliamentary majority, the reasons for not holding sessions are not in the actions and behavior of the opposition, whom they have vehemently accused in recent months of blocking the work of the FBiH Parliament.

Because, in January, the parliamentary majority of HDZ BiH, Trojka, and satellites entered the annals of parliamentarism, performing somersaults that no majority in that parliament had ever done before.

First, HDZ, Trojka, and the group, despite the live chairperson Mirjana Marinković Lepić, passed a conclusion according to which she would act as an ikebana in the leadership of the House of Representatives. With that conclusion, which is absolutely against the Rules of Procedure, they gave the mechanism of leading sessions to Mladen Bošković from HDZ. Moreover, no one from the most undemocratic parliamentary majority even tried to think why Bošković would lead sessions attended by the already elected Marinković Lepić.

And Marinković Lepić and her Our Party (Naša stranka) tell a story that leading sessions would endanger her health, as she resigned due to health problems. However, Marinković Lepić closed her sick leave and duly returned to the leadership. Therefore, she is ready to lead sessions. The answer to why she obediently and against the Rules of Procedure allows Bošković to take the lead can be sought back to the day of the General Elections, when some cadres of Our Party openly worked for Borjana Krišto as a candidate for the BiH Presidency member.

However, more concrete reasons for political maneuvering in the House of Representatives lie in Dragan Čović's plan to prevent a change at the head of that house until Marin Vukoja is elected as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

And at the head of the Commission is the versatile Mladen Bošković, who is clearly the main operative of HDZ in the lower house of the FBiH Parliament. This Bošković has not convened sessions or has postponed them several times, like the seventh session of the Commission, which was scheduled for today as well, but after the interruption of the session of the House of Representatives, it was also canceled. As we learn, crucial issues were not on the agenda today, and one of the crucial issues that Bošković is trying to prevent is the election of a new speaker of the House of Representatives.

The public in Bosnia and Herzegovina already knows and anticipates that Dragan Mioković from Our Party should be appointed to that position. However, Dragan Mioković is an obstacle for Dragan Čović, as Čović fears parts of Trojka who are almost openly demanding that a list of candidates for judge of the Constitutional Court be submitted to the House of Representatives, not just one name, as HDZ insists.

Therefore, Mioković from Our Party is a candidate for the speaker of the House of Representatives and will be elected only then and only if Trojka delivers Marin Vukojа to the Constitutional Court.

And until then, Marinković Lepić will play the role of an ikebana next to Bošković and occasionally respond to opposition representatives. Because, since they derogated parliamentary democracy contrary to the Rules of Procedure, and very likely the Constitution of FBiH, with a conclusion, Trojka, HDZ, and satellites have absolute control over the working bodies of the House of Representatives.

It is clear then that they no longer have the trump card they used to defend themselves by accusing opposition parties of blocking the work of the Parliament of the Federation. The times we live in, i.e., entering the second year of imposed government, best reveal the degree of distrust Dragan Čović has in his evidently forced partners from Schmidt's attacks on sound minds.

And therein lie the reasons why there are no Commission sessions, why there are no necessary and quality laws, why sessions are their own purpose and often end before they even begin.

The Federation as an entity may currently be the better part compared to the RS entity, but if the government chosen by the High Representative instead of the citizens persists, the Federation of BiH will become a ghettoized entity with serious illegality and stagnation in work and development.

And all this so that Čović can secure Vukojа and a few more favors from the habitually obedient factions from SDP, NiP, and Our Party.

It has dawned, perhaps for those who take tens of thousands and sell our future for nothing!