Emergency Session of the House of Peoples Scheduled for Tomorrow Due to Blockade of the BiH Parliament

(Patria) - An emergency session of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PS BiH) regarding the blockade of the BiH Parliament has been scheduled for tomorrow, November 29.

Five delegates in the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH submitted a request on November 22 for an urgent convening of a session of that house to discuss the "Information from the Collegium of the House of Peoples of the PSBiH on the reasons for the blockade of the work of the highest legislative body of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with special reference to the explanation of the legal basis for blocking the work of this state authority."

Deputies, delegates, (deputy) ministers, and other representatives from the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity of Republika Srpska (RS) have not participated in decision-making in institutions at the BiH level since former High Representative in BiH Valentin Inzko imposed amendments to the BiH Criminal Code on July 23, which banned the denial of genocide and war crimes.

The request was submitted by Denis Bećirović (Social Democratic Party of BiH - delegate in the Bosniak Caucus), Amir Fazlić and Asim Sarajlić (Party of Democratic Action - Bosniak Caucus), Munib Jusufović (Alliance for a Better Future - Bosniak Caucus), and Zlatko Miletić (independent, former member of the Democratic Front - Croat Caucus).

The holding of the session was also announced by Bakir Izetbegović, Deputy Chairman of the House of Peoples of BiH.

"If it is convened, then why did we convene it, we are only creating costs, the Serbian delegates will not come. So it is difficult to please. It is our duty to try, and I think it would be theirs, not only a right but also an obligation to respond and say what they have to say at such a session," Izetbegović emphasized.

Bećirović stated that "there is a kind of creation of quasi-parliamentarism at play."

- What we currently have at play is anti-procedurality, anti-constitutionality, and anti-legality. Europe knows what that means. It is a path to totalitarianism and it must be stopped as soon as possible. We in Bosnia have experience with the year 1992. We know very well what it means when individuals resort to extra-institutional action and leave legal state bodies. That is why today in the PSBiH we are very seriously posing a question to all legally elected representatives of both the legislative and executive authorities - you have two options, one is to work in the BiH Parliament, in the BiH Council of Ministers, in the bodies to which you were elected. The other option is to become outlaws and work in the woods. There is no third option here - Bećirović said.

According to his words, such behavior by those who block the work of the highest legislative body of BiH leads to concrete consequences, very dangerous for the entire society and the state.

- These consequences are, among other things, that in this way the legislative function of the highest legislative body is destroyed, the constituent function of the PSBiH is undermined. In this way, the control function of the PSBiH in terms of oversight of executive authorities is also undermined. This is an attack on fundamental democratic values and the legal order in BiH. That is why this is a very serious situation in which it seems that individuals want to usurp the will of the citizens and peoples of BiH represented in representative bodies and to decide arbitrarily on behalf of legal bodies - Bećirović emphasized.

This, he believes, is unacceptable and must be stopped.

- Our fundamental message to those responsible for convening sessions of state bodies - gentlemen, either start working, or submit irrevocable resignations, Bećirović added.