Shmidt disrupts coalition optimism: Will the BiH Council of Ministers session and implementation of the Lukavica agreement happen?

(Patria) - Two meetings in Banja Luka and Lukavica, besides fostering a good atmosphere, also resulted in an agreement on two laws that the European Union requires from BiH. This would be the shortest summary of the meeting of party leaders who form the state-level government. What began in Banja Luka on November 14th continued in Lukavica on November 20th.

The head of SNSD, Milorad Dodik, told reporters that they agreed on the Law on Border Control and the Law on Personal Data Protection, but not yet on the Law on Courts, as the European Union is not insisting on it at this moment. The coalition has not yet reached an agreement on the seat of the Appellate Court of BiH.

However, the EU insisted on the Growth Plan, so the partners quickly tried to reach an agreement after consultations with EU officials, in order to send the harmonized document to Brussels and thus enable the disbursement of the first tranche of 70 million euros. However, cantonal prime ministers must also approve the Growth Plan, and last time they gave conditional approval, so such a document was not accepted. The objections raised by the prime ministers from the four SDA cantons were justified, and the EU also pointed this out.

A signal arrived from Brussels that the BiH authorities have until December 4th to submit the harmonized document, but a day after the meeting in Lukavica, High Representative Christian Schmidt once again resorted to his Bonn powers and made a decision on the functioning of the National and University Library of BiH, as well as six other institutions of state importance. In that decision, the BiH Council of Ministers also received specific instructions. However, anticipating that the BiH Council of Ministers would not act on Schmidt's decision, another option was left for unblocking the work of institutions and appointing a leading person.

After Schmidt's decision, Dodik stated that Republika Srpska will not act on it, while the president of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, formulated the same opinion slightly differently.

"We started very well, and it seems to me that whenever we start very well, someone immediately tries to pull the rug out from under us. Everything we were supposed to agree on by December 4th or 5th, we have planned to finish next week. I still believe we will succeed, including those two laws, the Growth Plan, and the negotiator.

As soon as someone appears who imposes solutions, regardless of who they are, and disrupts such a relationship, it seems to me that it always gives a tool to one of the partners sitting at the table to then problematize it and then condition their further participation in the work. I hope this will not happen this time, and we already have indications that the session of the BiH Council of Ministers will be postponed, which should not happen because the 4th is 'tomorrow'. We have a chance to open this process, submit the Growth Plan, open the first financial chapter of 70 million, but I also call on all friends from abroad who wish BiH well to leave it to the domestic structures that have both executive and legislative responsibility to make decisions," said Čović.

When directly asked if there would be a delay in the work of the BiH Council of Ministers, Čović did not want to answer.

However, on the website of the BiH Council of Ministers, no session is scheduled for next week, but the possibility of an emergency session is not ruled out.

In addition to these two laws that the BiH Council of Ministers should propose to the BiH Parliament for adoption, the appointment of the chief negotiator with the EU also remains. According to a previous agreement, this will be a candidate from Republika Srpska who will have two deputies. As the positions at the head of the BiH Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs change, so will the EU negotiator.