Trojka abandons seventeen reform laws, but not the amendment of the Rules of Procedure and appointment of Vukoja

(Patria) - The Trojka parties have abandoned the adoption of seventeen laws at the Federation of BiH level, but not the amendment of the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives of the FBiH, which would create prerequisites for the appointment of HDZ's Marin Vukoja as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH, writes Istraga.ba.

Namely, SDP's Belmin Zukan has scheduled a session of the Legislative-Legal Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the FBiH for January 22, with only four items on the agenda: the Proposal of the Decision on temporary financing of the Federation of BiH, the Proposal of the Decision on giving consent to the financial plan of the Federal Employment Bureau, the Proposal of the Decision on amendments and additions to the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives of the FBiH, the Decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH of March 30, 2012, and miscellaneous.



Therefore, compared to the previously scheduled sessions of the Committee, it is evident that only one item remains the same – the Proposal for amendments and additions to the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives of the FBiH.

As seen from these two invitations, Trojka and HDZ had convened an urgent session of the Legislative-Legal Affairs Committee for January 4, which also included the consideration of 17 reform laws, plus the Proposal for amendments to the Rules of Procedure, while eighteen days later, the seventeen reform laws disappeared from the Committee's agenda, but the amendments to the Rules of Procedure remained.



We remind you that in November last year, the caucuses of the SDP, NiP, PDA, Naša stranka, and Hrvatski narodni sabor submitted the Proposal for amendments and additions to the Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives of the FBiH for procedure. The essence of these amendments is to enable the ruling coalition, consisting of Trojka and HNS, to appoint Marin Vukoja as a judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The key changes are in the provisions of Article 3 of the proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedure.

“If the position of president, deputy president, and member of a working body remains vacant due to the termination of a representative's mandate before the expiration of the term for which they were elected, it shall be filled in such a way that the position of president, deputy president, and member of the working body is assigned to the next candidate from the list from which the representative whose mandate has terminated was elected, after the representative's mandate has been verified, and in accordance with the decision of the Central Election Commission of BiH on the termination and assignment of mandates.
(6) The Proposal of the Decision on amendments to the Decision on the election of the president, deputy president, and members of the working bodies of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH may be submitted directly by authorized proposers in accordance with these Rules of Procedure, if the Committee for Elections and Appointments of the House does not establish the proposal of the said decision within 30 days from the date of verification of the representatives' mandates,” the proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedure state.

And here is what it is all about.

The Trojka and HNS parties have been trying since the beginning of 2023 to appoint HDZ's Marin Vukoja as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH. If Marin Vukoja were appointed, he would remain a constitutional judge until 2043. Judges of the Constitutional Court of BiH from the Federation are appointed by the House of Representatives of the FBiH. Trojka and HDZ have a majority there. However, the problem they face is the Committee for Elections and Appointments of the House of Representatives, which must discuss all appointments.

Trojka and HDZ BiH do not have the necessary majority in the Committee for Elections and Appointments of the House of Representatives to propose the appointment of Marin Vukoja as a judge of the Constitutional Court. According to the current Rules of Procedure of the House of Representatives, a majority of the total number of members of the Committee is required to make decisions within the Committee's original jurisdiction. The Committee for Elections and Appointments has 11 members, meaning a majority of six is required. However, the Committee has not been at full strength since the end of June. It is missing two members from HDZ BiH (Antonio Sesar and Feliks Vidović) who resigned from their representative positions, and thus from their membership in the Committee. Without these two members, the Trojka and HDZ BiH parties do not have six votes in the Committee for Elections and Appointments, meaning they do not have the necessary majority to make a decision to propose only Marin Vukoja as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

To appoint new members to the Committee for Elections and Appointments, a decision must be made by the House of Representatives, which, by a special decision, elects the president, deputy president, and members of the working body who are elected from among the representatives in the House of Representatives. However, before the decision of the House of Representatives of the FBiH on filling all committees, the Committee for Elections and Appointments must discuss it.

Currently, HDZ BiH and Trojka have only five members on the Committee: Mladen Bošković (HDZ), Damir Mašić (SDP), Aner Žuljević (SDP), Dragan Mioković (Naša stranka), and Rasim Smajlović (NiP). The opposition has four members on the Committee: Irfan Durić (NES), Eldar Čomor (SDA), Edina Gabela (SBiH), and Dajana Čolić (DF). If the four opposition members of the Committee do not attend the session, the Committee will not have a quorum for any discussion.

Therefore, the ruling coalition is blocked because they cannot fill the Committee for Elections and Appointments without the opposition, nor can they hold a Committee session without the opposition to propose the appointment of Marin Vukoja as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH. Precisely because of this, Trojka and HNS are proposing amendments to the Rules of Procedure, according to which the successors of Feliks Vidović and Antonio Sesar from the HDZ BiH Caucus would be automatically appointed as members of the Committee for Elections and Appointments. With such an appointment, the Trojka and HNS parties would gain a majority in the Committee for Elections and Appointments, and Marin Vukoja could be proposed as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH.

However, this plan by Trojka and HDZ is also blocked. Namely, the Legislative-Legal Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives of the FBiH must discuss the proposal for amendments to the Rules of Procedure.

“The Legislative-Legal Affairs Committee reviews drafts and proposals of laws, other regulations, and general acts adopted by the House of Representatives regarding their compliance with the Constitution of the Federation and the legal system, as well as regarding legal processing, and submits a report with an opinion and proposals to the House of Representatives,” the Rules of Procedure state.

This Committee also has (had) 11 members. The President of the Committee is Belmin Zukan (SDP). Delfa Dejanović (HDZ, HSS SR, HSS, HSP) is the Vice-President, while the members are Haris Silajdžić (SBiH), Damir Arnaut (Naša stranka), Mirza Batalović (NES), Nezir Pivić (SDA), Adisa Kokić-Hinović (SDA), Dennis Gratz (DF Željko Komšić), and from the ranks of expert, scientific, cultural, and public workers Jasna Planinčić, Miroslav Marić, and Vernes Mulić.

We remind you that Damir Arnaut (Naša stranka) resigned, so there are currently 10 members in the Committee. The Trojka and HDZ parties, together with experts, have five members. If representatives from SDA, DF, NES, and SBiH do not attend the session, there will be no quorum for it to be held. Thus, the Legislative-Legal Affairs Committee will not be able to take a position on potential amendments to the Rules of Procedure.

Since they do not have a majority in the Committee for Elections and Appointments and the Legislative-Legal Affairs Committee, the representatives of the Trojka and HDZ parties have been trying to build a narrative that the opposition is blocking the adoption of reform laws. However, only the government has abandoned all reform laws, but not the amendments to the Rules of Procedure and the appointment of Marin Vukoja.