EU GROWTH PLAN: EU seeks filling of BiH Constitutional Court, RS wants new law and removal of foreign judges, HDZ supports

(Patria) - The European Commission has submitted a new proposal for three unagreed measures, one of which concerns the Constitutional Court of BiH.

The entity Prime Minister of the RS, Radovan Višković, spoke about this today after a meeting of the presidents and representatives of parties that make up the state government in Mostar. We recall that two positions of judges coming from the RS, elected by the National Assembly of the RS, have been vacant since November 2022 and the beginning of 2024, respectively.

"Regarding the Constitutional Court, there are certain steps, three written steps, and from these steps arise certain activities that need to be implemented. In the first step, it was said that all vacant positions in the Constitutional Court should be filled by July 2025. But what we object to and what we will try to resolve together with EU representatives is the roadmap regarding the resolution of the status of foreigners in the Constitutional Court of BiH. We do not accept such a formulation; we want it to clearly and loudly state that a new law on the Constitutional Court should be adopted, which will resolve the issue of foreigners sitting in the Constitutional Court of BiH. What roadmaps, what stories, but simply that we say, here we will adopt a law on the Constitutional Court. I even proposed that both the filling and the law go in parallel, with a deadline of December 2025. We have the consent of HDZ on this. It remains for the Troika to see how they can influence the people sitting in the Commission that makes such a decision; the cantonal prime ministers sit there. The Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers said that she will soon schedule a meeting of the Commission and we will see whether there is consensus or not," said Višković.

It is also required that by the end of 2026, 70 percent of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina be implemented.