Secret Document Surfaces: Why did Covic and Zvizdic hide Coordination mechanism from the public?

Dragan Covic, President of the BH Presidency and Denis Zvizdic, Chair of the Council of Ministers will announce later today that the Coordination mechanism, as one of the key conditions for the EU application to be accepted, has been established.

The fact that the document was adopted at the Council of Ministers meeting on 26 January, and that the public was not informed, proves that negotiations were conducted at the political instead of institutional level, and that, for the reasons known to them only, everything was done in secret.

According to our source, the main part of negotiations was conducted between Dragan Covic and Bakir Izetbegovic, under supervision by Germany and Great Britain. The issue of cantons was disputed yet it seems that Covic proposed a concession – the Mechanism states that 'in the case the Committee is unable to reach consensus of the present permanent members (and the members are the cantons), the Chair of the Committee will request relevant ministerial conference to seek an agreement upon the dispute’.

This way, a higher level has been created which will solve problems if one or two cantons fail to agree with the majority.

- It is shameful for a democratic society to work in a non-institutional manner, however, we expect all of this to come before parliaments. The Republic Srpska finished with the Mechanism long time ago. The dispute was between SDA and HDZ, and Covic has obviously made some concessions so we shall see what he gets in return – our source says.

Izetbegovic and Covic will have to explain why everything was done in secret. Also, reaction by SBB, a coalition partner of SDA and HDZ which was excluded from the process, will be interesting.

A modality which presumes that one or two cantons cannot decide different from others was being looked for.

It is obvious that they found a way out, but it is certain that it could not pass without institutional support. That's why I expect all of this to be presented at the Joint Committee for EU integrations, our source adds.

The Coordination Mechanism can be found at this link ovdje