Slaven Kovačević: The Three want a new 'Vukoja case' and a controversial appointment of Monika Mijić by usurping the Presidency's competencies

(Patria) - Regarding the competition for the appointment of agents of the Council of Ministers of BiH to the European Court of Human Rights, I have repeatedly warned that the individuals who appeared as alleged agents of the Council of Ministers to the European Court of Human Rights were outside their mandate, and that their appointment is highly questionable if the relevant laws are applied, states Slaven Kovačević, DF candidate for the BiH Presidency member, in his reaction.

"There are several reasons for this. The first is that no institution of Bosnia and Herzegovina can enable or grant legal authority to anyone through a by-law, which the Council of Ministers has been doing continuously. Legal authority can only be granted by law. The second important issue is the duration of the mandate of acting officials, which is limited by law to a maximum of twice for three months, while in the specific case of one of the candidates for the position of agent of the Council of Ministers to the European Court of Human Rights, it was as many as seven times. Therefore, it is clearly illegal. Third, the same person, Monika Mijić, as we can read in the media, held the position of secretary with a special task for more than ten years, but not in the way that the Minister of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Davor Bunoza, states, visibly incorrectly and falsely in his opinion, that this does not apply to persons whose continuity in performing that function has been interrupted, but rather as determined by the Law on Civil Service in the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina: '...The longest period of appointment to the same position is ten years.' (Article 34, paragraph 2 of the law which talks about the appointment of a secretary with a special task). From this, it is evident that continuity in performing the function is not mentioned at all, but is limited to a maximum of 10 years.

Fourth, which is of particular importance, all of this was stated by the Office for Legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in response to one of the parliamentary questions, and I would like to remind the public that, according to the Law on the Council of Ministers, this Office is the only body that provides opinions to the Council of Ministers itself before the decision-making process begins. Specifically, the opinion of the Office for Legislation is a legal category in the decision-making process, while the opinion of the Ministry of Justice has a completely different status. It will be interesting to see what opinion the Office for Legislation will give on this strange and legally questionable proposal to appoint agents of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of the competition procedure, and how the political group called the Three will position themselves on this issue within the Council of Ministers.

Finally, and fifth. All appointments of all representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in international bodies and institutions are the constitutional competence of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, for example, appoints candidates for judges to the European Court of Human Rights, directly appoints a member of the Venice Commission, all representatives in working bodies of the Council of Europe, but pay attention to this wonder, it does not appoint agents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, not of the Council of Ministers, but of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the European Court of Human Rights.

Since this procedure is clearly very questionable from the perspective of the Law on Administration, the Law on Civil Service in Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I think the public will see whether the Three will again indulge the HDZ-SNSD axis, and turn a blind eye to this illegal and unconstitutional appointment and vote for it, or whether, for the first time, they will show some integrity.

Perhaps a situation will arise again, as during the appointment (because it was not an election) of Marin Vukoja to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and they will say that it was also a well-done job, as one of the members of the Three once said, disregarding the opinion of the Venice Commission", Kovačević stated.