Canton Sarajevo Assembly supports establishment of new tourism board in the Canton

The Assembly of Canton Sarajevo supported the establishment of a new tourism board in Canton Sarajevo with 21 votes in favor, at the proposal of the Cantonal Government, Patria reports.

In Canton Sarajevo, the Tourism Board of the Canton operates, but Prime Minister Elmedin Konaković proposed the establishment of a new tourism board, whose founder will be the Cantonal Government. The existing Tourism Board of the Canton was founded by Sarajevo hoteliers and restaurateurs.

Lawyer Ahmed Žilić warned the Assembly of Canton Sarajevo, members of the Cantonal Government, and the Legal Ombudsman yesterday that the establishment of a new tourism board in Canton Sarajevo is illegal, because the Law on Tourism of the Canton is still before the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is determining whether the Law on Tourism in the Canton was adopted in accordance with the Constitution of the Federation. No one knows whether the Constitutional Court will declare the law valid or will „overturn“ it.

The Assembly of Canton Sarajevo adopted the Law on Tourism in the Canton at the end of April this year, but representatives of the SDP, DF, BPS, and independent representative Hamed Aljović, along with some representatives from the SBB, requested a review of the law's constitutionality, stating that the procedure during the adoption of this law was not followed. The Canton did not receive consent from the Federation when adopting its own law on tourism.

- The formation of a new tourism board of Canton Sarajevo - which will be institutionally/federally unarticulated - calls into question the rule of law and the foundations of the constitutional and legal order in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also in Canton Sarajevo. Only the Constitutional Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is competent to resolve this serious institutional problem in the Federation, which goes beyond the meaning of tourism itself - warned lawyer Žilić.

- This involves a violation of the constitutional and legal order of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the constitutional and legal order of the Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina) by informal groups led by the Prime Minister of Canton Sarajevo, Elmedin Konaković, through attempts at extra-institutional - illegal destruction of the legitimate and legal Tourism Board of Canton Sarajevo - warned lawyer Žilić, in a letter he sent to the cantonal authorities on Monday.