RS National Assembly session not resumed, opposition not backing down from demands

The session of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska, which was supposed to resume today at 12 PM, has not resumed and it is unknown when it will, reports Patria agency.

The President of the RS NA, Nedeljko Čubrilović, stated that the session will resume when the conditions are met.

No agreement was reached at the session of the Collegium of the RS NA regarding the resumption of the session that was interrupted last night. MPs from opposition parties gathered around the presidency table of the RS NA, thus physically preventing the session from continuing.

Opposition MPs had three demands for the resumption of the session, but representatives of the ruling parties did not agree to their demands.

The first demand was to return the Consolidated Audit Report on the execution of the RS budget for 2016 to the agenda.

- It may sound unbelievable that the opposition has occupied the RS NA in the way we have. We are here to respect the parliament, which in recent years, and especially weeks, has been significantly usurped by the irresponsibility of the Government, which tramples on the parliament. We are dissatisfied and bitter that the parliamentary majority has not accepted the legitimate demands to return the parliament to its constitutional framework. They say the Audit Report can be discussed in 15 days, so why aren't we doing it today? The Rules of Procedure clearly stipulate how to debate in parliament - stated Branislav Borenović, president of PDP.

The president of SDS, Vukota Govedarica, said that the president of Republika Srpska called him by phone to try to resolve the situation.

- Dodik called me this morning. He asked for the institutions to function. I said they must, but within the law and the constitution, and that our demands are in that vein. He suggested we meet and talk. I said that the Collegium of the RS NA would discuss that issue. We are not running away from it, but considering that the Collegium is discussing it, it was unnecessary. It wasn't a long, but a short conversation – Govedarica pointed out.