Ministerial dismissals under the Law and Rules of Procedure are in Borjana Krišto's hands: Either no-confidence in the Council of Ministers or everything stays the same!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

The beginning of 2025 in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been marked by political games and speculation about expelling Milorad Dodik's SNSD from state government, or the dismissal of his cadres from leading positions in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and ministers in the Council of Ministers.

The Troika, which today offers the narrative that after two years of warnings they have come to their senses and decided to get rid of Dodik, has launched an action to create a new parliamentary majority, which necessarily leads to the dismissal of ministers in the Council of Ministers.

In the meantime, initiatives have also emerged to dismiss the figurehead of the Troika project, NiP leader and Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković. Konaković and his partners in the Troika are simultaneously trying to gather enough parliamentary votes to expel SNSD from power, and then install the opposition from RS in that place.

Reading the provisions of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, which are cited in the initiatives to dismiss Minister Konaković, and which were also cited by previous initiators of dismissals, it is easy to establish a clear differentiation between the reconstruction of the Council of Ministers and the dismissal of individual ministers/deputies.

The initiatives submitted so far, including the one concerning the dismissal of the arrested Minister of Security Nenad Nešić, have invoked Article 153 of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.

The Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives state the following:

“Article 153. (Initiating a vote of no confidence in the Council of Ministers of BiH)

(1) At least eight representatives in the House may initiate a proposal for a vote of no confidence or for the reconstruction of the Council of Ministers of BiH.
(2) The Presidency of BiH may propose the dismissal of the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH.
(3) Proposals from paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the House in writing, signed and with an explanation.
(4) The Chairperson of the House shall immediately submit this proposal to the Presidency of BiH, the Council of Ministers of BiH, the representatives, and the House of Peoples.”

It is therefore clear that initiatives to dismiss individual ministers or their deputies cannot invoke Article 153 of the Rules of Procedure, as this is a violation not only of the Rules of Procedure but also of the Law on the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has a stronger legal force than the Rules of Procedure.

Furthermore, when no-confidence or reconstruction of the Council of Ministers is initiated, this document must go beyond the House of Representatives, meaning that everything cannot be concluded with a vote in the House of Representatives, as the document must be submitted to the Presidency of BiH, the Council of Ministers, and the House of Peoples.

The procedure is therefore much more complex, as it also involves submitting reports and the Council of Ministers' response to the proposal for a vote of no confidence or reconstruction of the Council of Ministers.

On what grounds and based on what the practice of submitting initiatives to dismiss individual ministers based on Article 153 of the Rules of Procedure was established is unclear, but it is clear that it is legal violence and that an appeal to the court on this matter would create a problem and call into question previous decisions.

Because the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives of BiH, as well as the Law on the Council of Ministers in Article 159, specify the procedure for the dismissal of individual ministers/deputies:

“Article 159. (Initiating the procedure for the dismissal of a minister or deputy minister)

(1) The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH may initiate the procedure for the dismissal of a minister or deputy minister.
(2) The proposal from paragraph (1) of this Article shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the House in writing with an explanation.
(3) The Chairperson of the House shall immediately submit the proposal to the representatives and the House of Peoples.”

Therefore, according to Article 159 of the Rules of Procedure, which is fully aligned with Article 15 of the Law on the Council of Ministers, it is clear that the dismissal of ministers is proposed by the person chairing the Council, in this case, Borjana Krišto.

This means that the reconstruction of the entire Council of Ministers can be initiated by the BiH Parliament, but that initiatives to dismiss individual ministers/deputies invoking Article 153 of the Rules of Procedure are not in accordance with the Law on the Council of Ministers.

Both the Rules of Procedure and the Law are very clear and precise, so the question is whether we will wait for the Court's opinion in the political game surrounding dismissals and replacements in the Council of Ministers, because the procedure by which the dismissals of individual ministers were initiated is based on incorrect premises.

Finally, the question arises as to how long the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held hostage by the ignorance and dilettantism of those whose political and all other ambitions are not proportional to their abilities and potential.