Pivić on the Reform Agenda: The Troika Accepted Dodik's Demands Regarding the Constitutional Court of BiH, No Abolition of Entity Veto

(Patria) - The Council of Ministers announced that it adopted the Reform Plan from the Growth Plan and forwarded it to the European Commission for an opinion. Even at first reading, it is clear that the ministers of the Troika accepted Dodik's demands regarding the Constitutional Court of BiH and the retention of the entity veto in the Competition Council and the State Aid Council of BiH, stated ZDK Prime Minister Nezir Pivić in his reaction.

These two reforms were the biggest stumbling block all along, and the Council of Ministers "solved" the problem by fulfilling Dodik's wishes.

The key reform, concerning the Constitutional Court of BiH, has been completely deleted and replaced with a completely immeasurable and meaningless "reform."

"The text of the reform to which the four of us, cantonal prime ministers from the SDA, gave consent read: 'Appoint all constitutional judges, and the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH are recognized and applied throughout the country.' That part has been completely removed and replaced with text that essentially has nothing to do with the Constitutional Court of BiH and the implementation of its decisions, which reads: 'In the context of future EU accession negotiations, adopt a Roadmap for democratic institutions, which will cover all remaining institutional challenges identified in the Commission's 2019 Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina's application for EU membership.'

Thus, the impression is that this measure short-term accommodates the HDZ in order to artificially create a picture of 'progress on the EU path led by Borjana Krišto,' while long-term it accommodates the RS entity, because there is no implementation of the decisions of the Constitutional Court nor its filling.

Pay attention to the following two paragraphs and notice the difference:

- Competition policy legislation is implemented at all levels of government, and all administrative bodies responsible for implementing the acquis are based solely on professionalism, without the right of veto in decision-making, especially regarding the BiH Competition Council and the BiH State Aid Council, in line with the EU acquis.

- The legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on competition policy, including state aid, is harmonized and implemented at all levels of government in accordance with the requirements of the EU acquis, and all administrative bodies responsible for its implementation, including the BiH Competition Council and the BiH State Aid Council, base their decision-making solely on professionalism, in accordance with the EU acquis.

We gave consent to the first paragraph, which abolishes the right of entity veto. The words 'without the right of veto in decision-making' were deleted from the text adopted by the Council of Ministers. So, exactly what Dodik insisted on.

Also, the Troika respected the request of the RS entity to delete the word 'state' or 'national' from the National Program for Harmonization with the EU acquis.

The Troika fulfilled the wishes of the SNSD and the HDZ also by completely deleting all comments, remarks, and interventions of the four cantonal prime ministers from the SDA, which mostly coincide with the positions of the European Commission, from the document. That is, of course, the right of the Council of Ministers, and we have been saying that from the very beginning. But then we rightly ask why the Working Group was formed at all, why a year and a half was spent on harmonization if all that work will be deleted?

The document as it is now sent to the European Commission could have been adopted a year and a half ago, without consulting the cantons. Who will be responsible for BiH losing 108 million euros?

Finally, the question arises why the tables of investment projects were completely removed from the adopted document. That table with so-called 'mature projects' was not disputed, nor were the transport projects from the table with 'immature projects.'

We remind that Table 1 listed: Corridor Vc road; section Ivan – Ovčari, section Ovčari – Entrance to the Prenj tunnel, section Prenj tunnel, section Prenj tunnel – northern Mostar. Construction of the main road M-1111 Foča (Brod na Drini) - Hum (Šćepan Polje); Improvement of the main road M-1111 Sarajevo – Foča. Major overhaul of the railway line Podlugovi – Sarajevo. Major overhaul of the Doboj line, i.e., km 103+500-Maglaj, both tracks and Jelina – Zenica. Modernization and overhaul of railway sections: Doboj-Petrovo Novo and Caparde Zvornik, including reconstruction of the Križevići tunnel. Construction of the Banja Luka bypass. Improvement of the main road M-1101 Banja Luka – Ugar. Automation of the electricity distribution system of Elektroprivreda BiH. Revitalization and automation of the distribution network in the Republic of Srpska. Reconstruction and construction of the distribution network and transformer stations, and delivery of advanced electricity meters, Elektroprivreda HZHB. Energy efficiency of the electricity distribution system of Elektroprivreda BiH... etc.

Someone would have to explain why these projects were deleted," states Pivić.