Zvizdić: RS entity cannot conclude interstate agreements, Croatian Government should have known this

A Protocol on cooperation in the implementation of the project "Natural gas supply to the end customer - Brod Oil Refinery" was signed between representatives of the Republika Srpska entity and the relevant ministry of the Republic of Croatia. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining of RS, Petar Đokić, and the Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy of the Republic of Croatia, Tomislav Ćorić. This project blocks the FBiH and leaves it without a connection to natural gas from Croatia.

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH, Denis Zvizdić, reacted to this signing, calling it an unpleasant surprise.

- Given that no institution of executive or legislative power at the state level participated in such a process, nor was it informed about it. The fact that such an ignorant attitude towards competent state institutions was taken by one of the member states of the European Union, which should respect the international legal subjectivity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is also its immediate neighbor, is particularly surprising.

Unfortunately, the Republic of Croatia decided, without respecting the constitutional jurisdiction of state institutions in the area of foreign policy and international treaties and acts, to sign a Protocol with constitutionally incompetent institutions of the RS, which represents only one entity in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

What the Government of the Republic of Croatia certainly had to know, or inform itself about in time, is the fact that in accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidency of BiH has exclusive jurisdiction over conducting foreign policy, while each Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity can conclude agreements only and exclusively with the consent of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The Protocol on Cooperation was signed without the knowledge of Bosnian-Herzegovinian institutions, despite the fact that, according to legal regulations, the competent ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina should have submitted a draft proposal for initiating the procedure and the basis for negotiations for concluding an international treaty to the Council of Ministers.

From the foregoing, it follows that the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina is competent for the issue regulated by this protocol, and therefore any ministry from the RS entity level could not have been the other contracting party.

The explanation of the Conclusion of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, which emphasizes that "Republika Srpska as an entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina has its jurisdiction and autonomy in the area of gas, i.e. energy...", is particularly concerning and completely unacceptable, with the Government of the Republic of Croatia placing itself in the role of an interpreter of the Constitution and laws of BiH. It is difficult to believe that the Republic of Croatia does not know that this is the exclusive jurisdiction of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the issue of gas is a strategic issue everywhere in the world that never includes the interests of only one party.

I want to point out that in the previous period there were also agreements relating to only one part of the state of BiH, but no representative of the governments of other countries or international institutions ever thought of signing it with a lower level of government without the consent of the BiH Parliament.

It is clear that by signing this Protocol, rights and obligations that exclusively belong to the state by jurisdiction have been assumed. The question of the legal nature and validity of the concluded Protocol arises, given that it is an international agreement. It will be necessary to seek further constitutional and legal interpretation regarding this form of violation of the international legal subjectivity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to decide on further forms of protection of the international legal subjectivity of BiH.

Finally, I want to emphasize the full commitment to strengthening good neighborly cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia, based on the principles of mutual respect and adherence to the norms and rules of international law," stated Denis Zvizdić's letter.