Divergent Views in Coalition: Dodik Says They Are Further from Agreement on the Law on Courts Than Three Months Ago

(Patria) - Leaders of the ruling coalition parties at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina held a meeting today in the building of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The meeting was attended by the presidents of SNSD Milorad Dodik, HDZ BiH Dragan Čović, and the leaders of the "Trojka".

Dodik told reporters after the meeting that an agreement on the law on the Constitutional Court of BiH was again not reached, and that the law on prevention of money laundering and terrorist activities was partially harmonized.

"The law on courts remains unharmonized. Today we heard that the Bosniak side is not even in favor of the Appellate Division, but rather some form of court. This means we have not agreed. We believe that the seat of the Appellate Division should be in Banja Luka. Partners from the Federation of BiH believe it should be at some other location in Republika Srpska," said Dodik, adding that this is incorrect and that the meeting did not yield any results.

He continued that they have an agreement on the "Constitutional Court, and that they are moving forward with some options".

"We have maintained an agreement on some things. The working group for drafting the Election Law has been formed. The obligation remains with the partners from the Federation to resolve the issue of how the members of the Presidency in FBiH are elected. RS still insists on directly electing one member from RS. We accept any agreement on this matter as agreed by the partners in the Federation. I regret that we did not manage to harmonize these two laws. It was a package. Since we did not succeed in doing that, we do not have that package harmonized," he stated, adding that they wanted to take an expected step before the arrival of representatives from the European Union.

When asked if he believes an agreement will be reached on this issue at the next meeting, he said he is not optimistic.

"If Banja Luka is problematic for people from FBiH, then they are denying the state they advocate for so much. We asked for it to be in Banja Luka. The time will come when the issue of courts will be resolved. No verdict in the Court of BiH is sustainable in practice from a legal standpoint. It is impossible in legal practice for both the first and second divisions of the Court to be formed in the same place. Even Europe cannot tolerate that," emphasized Dodik.

He added that today they are further from an agreement on the Law on Courts than they were three months ago.

The president of Ujedinjena Srpska, Nenad Stevandić, said that they are not to blame for the failure of today's meeting and that they always come prepared, but the problem lies with the Trojka.

"One time they tell us they cannot guarantee that the MPs will vote. Then one time they tell us they cannot influence Bećirović, we believe they are victims of the protectorate. We do not accept the protectorate, we do not accept that we have to consult with ambassadors, with the OHR. I told my colleagues it is a shame to show such animosity towards Banja Luka. It is a shame, the intolerance towards Banja Luka that we constantly experience here. In the Federation, the "Trojka" cannot agree on anything, they are not interested in anything except their positions". Are they calculating because of the next elections, with their clashes with Bakir, but we are wasting time on negotiations that did not fail because of us," said Stevandić.