Špirić does not remember SNSD's blockades of the state of BiH

From SNSD, they say they will support what is constructive and in line with the Constitution of BiH and laws, but that sometimes they may act in a way that someone will not like. The party's representative Nikola Špirić said that “those who expect obstructions from SNSD are deluded” and that “SNSD did not cause obstructions even in the previous term”.

(Klix.ba, 09.12.2014.)

After the constituent session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH definitively confirmed a parliamentary majority without SNSD, the representative of this party and still current Minister of Finance of BiH, Nikola Špirić, said that his party will not obstruct the work of state bodies even though it will be an opposition party at the state level. Špirić said that SNSD „did not cause obstructions even in the previous term“, which is an absolutely untrue statement and completely at odds with the actions of this party in state institutions over the past four years, reported ISTINOMJER, as carried by the Bosnian news agency Patria. 

If we just briefly look at the events in state institutions during the previous term, we can find several examples of obstructions of processes at the BiH level, precisely by deputies and ministers from the ranks of SNSD.

Amendments to the law 

One of the most recent examples is the adoption of the Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorist Activities, and the accompanying amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. Namely, the adoption of these two laws by May 31 of this year was a condition set before our country by the Committee for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorist Activities of the Council of Europe (Moneyval). These two laws were adopted in the House of Representatives just before the deadline, at a session held on May 28, and it was certainly necessary for the House of Peoples to also declare on them so that they could be finally adopted.

At that time, SNSD deputies in the House of Representatives supported the adoption of both laws, but after harsh criticism from the President of RS and leader of SNSD Milorad Dodik, which referred to the amendments to the Criminal Code of BiH and the alleged lack of jurisdiction of the state on this matter, the deputies of this party in the House of Peoples of BiH voted against the amendments to the Criminal Code, so they have not been adopted to this day. Only by the sheer goodwill of Moneyval has our country not yet faced rigorous sanctions, but damage has certainly been done given that this organization informed all member states by letter about the situation in BiH.

Another example reflecting the untruthfulness of Špirić's claim is the untimely adoption of the Amendments to the Law on Unique Master Citizen Numbers (JMBG), which, according to the order of the Constitutional Court of BiH, should have been adopted by February 8. As this did not happen, all children born after that date could not obtain a JMBG, and thus no personal documents, and everything culminated in protests in front of the BiH Parliament building on June 5, 2013, when citizens gathered in support of a sick newborn girl who, without documents, could not travel for treatment.

After the protests, the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted a Decision on the temporary issuance of JMBG, and the Law itself was finally adopted only at the beginning of November 2013, i.e., 9 months after the deadline set by the Constitutional Court of BiH. The entire problem with amending this Law was actually a very simple technical requirement to align the names of places listed in Article 5 of the state Law on JMB with the names of municipalities from the territory of RS listed in Article 5 of the entity Law on Territorial Organization of RS.

Politicization of the problem 

The proposed amendments, drafted by SNSD and SDS, precisely initiated the politicization of this problem. According to this proposal, Article 5 of the Law on JMB was changed in a way that, in addition to aligning the names of municipalities, there were also changes to registration areas, where instead of the existing 10, three registration areas were introduced that would encompass municipalities according to the territorial organization of the entities or the Brčko District. What these two parties proposed greatly exceeded the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH and actually did not relate to the implementation of its ruling, but to a completely different matter not addressed in the Constitutional Court's ruling.

Thus, in this case as well, SNSD deputies were the ones who caused obstructions and effectively blackmailed the highest legislative body so that without fulfilling their demands, the decision of the Constitutional Court could not be implemented either, even though all its decisions are legally binding.

Military property 

An interesting example of obstructions by SNSD is also when, in the Constitutional and Legal Committee of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, they did not support the Law on Immovable Military Property, even though the leaders of SNSD and SDP had previously agreed on the text of this law. This law, which is one of the conditions for BiH's membership in NATO, has still not been adopted, and today it is mentioned as one of the signed principles between DF, SDA, HDZ, and the Alliance for Changes.

Another example is the delay in giving consent by the Government of RS for the participation of our students in the European educational exchange program Erasmus Plus. Namely, in 2013, BiH received an invitation to participate in the Erasmus+ Program, and it was necessary for all competent ministries to give their consent. However, the consent of the Ministry of Education and Culture of RS did not arrive on time, which is why the Minister of Civil Affairs of BiH, Sredoje Nović, gave a negative response to the invitation from the European Union.

Only after strong reactions from students in the country, and the announcement of possible protests, did the Government of RS change its decision and give consent for partial participation in the project, with the note that this entity retains its competencies in the domain of education from the Dayton Agreement.

Obstructions by SNSD were also evident when BiH lost 45 million euros from EU IPA funds, which were canceled for our country by the European Commission at the end of last year due to the lack of a coordination mechanism with the EU. Milorad Dodik then stated that he does not regret those funds because they were intended for „strengthening institutions at the BiH level“.

„These are funds planned for strengthening or forming new institutions at the BiH level, and that is why we do not regret them at all“, Dodik claimed at the time, thereby only demonstrating his party's animosity towards positive processes at the BiH level.

Therefore, without going into other examples, of which there were certainly many more during the past four years, even these few we have listed are sufficient to conclude that the statement of Nikola Špirić that SNSD never caused obstructions in BiH institutions is certainly untrue.