MEETING ON JULY 2ND: Čović and Dodik have their demands, the 'trojka' is focused on local elections and Sarajevo

By: Amra Vrabac

A new meeting of the parties forming the government at the state and federal level is expected to be held on July 2nd. The last one, without any agreements reached, was held on May 13th.

The host of the new meeting will be the president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, who has also taken over the presidency of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament. What has changed since the last meeting is the election of the Constitutional Court judge Marin Vukoja, which was insisted upon by Čović.

In the meantime, there have been various statements, with Milorad Dodik leading the way. On June 8th, he held an all-Serbian assembly with the President of Serbia, after which the rhetoric about "peaceful separation" and the independence of Republika Srpska or its annexation to Serbia intensified.

Partners from the Federation of BiH, specifically the 'trojka' parties, first stated that they would respond to Dodik's call for separation if they received it, and then changed their minds and said there would be no separation.

However, besides Dodik, Čović is also giving the 'trojka' a headache. This week, he continued with his wish list, presenting new demands to the partners at the Federation of BiH level – the Election Law and legitimate representation, the leadership position of the Federal Police Administration, and a special company based in Mostar that will work on the Southern Interconnection project…

However, US Ambassador Michael Murphy also has demands for the 'trojka'. In his address at a scientific gathering in Sarajevo this week, he stated that the current political climate is "perhaps the worst since the 1990s."

Regarding the state level, the 2024 budget for institutions has not yet appeared on the agenda of the Council of Ministers of BiH. At the last session, Chairperson Borjana Krišto asked the Minister of Finance and Treasury, Srđan Amidžić, to prepare a proposal by the next session. However, it is highly likely that the budget will not be on the agenda of the session scheduled for June 27th, meaning before the meeting of political leaders on July 2nd.

During a gathering with journalists, Čović stated that the budget was agreed upon, but the problem lies in the realization of conditions that the Federation of BiH has not met.

“And that is to find a model for the distribution of funds that are in sub-accounts, amounting to hundreds of millions of KM,” said Čović, supporting Dodik's demand for the distribution of these funds.

However, the president of HDZ BiH is thus pressuring the Minister of Finance of the Federation of BiH, Toni Kraljević, whose signature is crucial for the distribution of 262 million KM from special excise taxes held in the account of the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH. Kraljević left one session and did not appear at two others because he disagrees with the agreement of political leaders on the distribution between Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, which would damage the budget of the Federation of BiH. Kraljević is clearly not willing to face criminal responsibility for the illegal distribution of funds.

Regarding the funds of the Communications Regulatory Agency, Minister Edin Forto has agreed to SNSD's demands, but the legality of such a decision is questionable.

The energy collapse that occurred on Friday in BiH, Montenegro, Croatia, and Albania has also raised the issue of the distribution of funds held by Elektroprenos. However, instead of these funds being used to cover budget shortfalls, especially in Republika Srpska where the Government of Republika Srpska is excessively indebted and has less and less money, this money should be directed towards improving the power grid to preserve the system and prevent similar situations.

While the state government completely ignores the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and continues to promote discrimination, without whose implementation we will not be able to move forward towards the European Union, Čović is demanding that Hungary's presidency of the European Union be used to finalize electoral reform according to HDZ BiH's wishes.

However, given the recent European Parliament elections and the change of leaders in four key European institutions, which will likely mean changes in the enlargement commissioner, Hungarian Oliver Varhelyi, Čović might lose his like-minded allies.

It should be recalled that it was precisely in a conversation with the Hungarian Foreign Minister in 2021 that Čović received support for changing the election law based on Christian values.

However, while Čović and Dodik have a clear agenda and act accordingly, the 'trojka' parties have shifted their focus to Canton Sarajevo and local elections.