House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH session scheduled for today: Law on Southern Interconnection in focus

(Patria) - The regular 15th session in the current term of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has been postponed three times so far, has been announced for today.

We remind you that the Speaker of the House, Dragan Mioković, stated that the Federal Government requested the postponement, explaining that the text of one of the laws on the proposed agenda, related to the amendment of current income tax legislation, needs to be harmonized.

However, what will attract special attention today are not the income tax laws, but the potentially proposed Law on the Southern Gas Interconnection. Mioković announced that it will be included on the session's agenda.

He also announced amendments to the law's text as "the result of work and broad consultations with domestic and international experts, as well as colleagues from the ruling and opposition parties".

"The amendments we propose make the law constitutional, implementable, and effective. First and foremost, they provide for the implementation of the Constitutional Court's ruling concerning state property. In addition to this, our proposals define other issues such as the formation of the Commission for Granting Urban Planning Consent, land expropriation, issuance of environmental permits, and the like," said Mioković.

He added that discussions with the ruling and opposition parties are continuing to ensure broad support for this law, which is strategic for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We remind you that US officials, Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Michael Murphy and Alexander Kasanof, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, held a meeting on December 4th in Sarajevo, at their initiative, with federal parliamentarians. In brief statements to journalists after the meeting, they indicated that the law is on a good path towards Bosnia and Herzegovina's energy independence. It was suggested that it should be passed by the end of this year. Representatives of the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH were not invited to this meeting. Their ministers tried to 'push through the working group's law' at the FBiH Government yesterday, but the ministers of the Trojka coalition rejected it. Only five ministers voted YES. The Minister of Internal Affairs of FBiH, Ramo Isak, abstained.

The session of the House of Representatives is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM.