Venice Commission's Neum Revelation: No More Temporary Deals in BiH

By A. Čorbo-Zećo

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The circus in Neum has ended, and the public is being presented with a picture of no winners. However, it is fundamentally clear that HDZ has been defeated.

The pro-Bosnian parties and the representatives of the Venice Commission, who participated in these talks on amending the Election Law and did a great job, are most responsible for this.

In fact, they are the winning combination and what pro-Bosnian forces must focus on when it comes to the future organization of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There can be no progress without a complete organization like all European countries have.

Their significance was confirmed publicly by the US Embassy, emphasizing that the Venice Commission's expertise in this process is invaluable.

Any solution must fully implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which is an obligation under the Dayton Agreement. All parties are responsible for full implementation, and any solution must be in line with EU standards. The views of the Venice Commission from 16 years ago, when they proposed abolishing the Houses of Peoples, must also be taken into account.

The importance of this commission was also highlighted by Erol Avdović, a journalist and analyst from New York.

“Thank you to the Venice Commission for persevering in defending the principles of equality and the rights of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With them, there could be no so-called Dayton ‘elbow twisting’ for temporary deals/agreements,” Avdović said.

He points out that Washington should draw two useful conclusions from this process that culminated in Neum.

“First, be careful who you delegate as mediators to the Balkans; it has been shown that sometimes individual career and ambitions, when not supervised, turn the system into ‘creativity’ that can be in conflict with the liberal-democratic values that the US advocates. Second, there can be no more temporary agreements in BiH, and especially no agreements with political leaders with autocratic tendencies. This is against Biden's doctrine, which centers its foreign policy around human rights,” Avdović stated.