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Delvin Kovač of Vijesti.ba asked questions; I
answered:
Representatives of Republika Srspska (RS) at the
level of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) will suspend their
participation in decision-making on any matter within the
jurisdiction of the BiH authorities until a new Law on the
Constitutional Court of BiH is adopted, with no foreign judges.
This position was taken at yesterday’s meeting of
RS officials, institutions and representatives of parliamentary
parties based in that BiH entity, after the decision of the
Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which declared
unconstitutional the Law on Agricultural Land of the Entities of RS.
How do you see this newly created political
situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seems like Bosnia remains
politically deadlocked…
A: Indeed, deadlocked due to the Dayton peace
accords, which left gaps and ambiguities that the RS exploits.
Q: Milorad Dodik said: “Either political leaders
will come to a new agreement on what the Constitutional Court should
look like, or Bosnia will be no more.” Is this a serious threat to
Bosnia’s as well as Balkan’s peace and stability/security?
A: It certainly is, but it is not new. Dodik has
been threatening the state for years. Were I a citizen, I would be
concerned.
The real question is not whether the state should
exist. It is whether RS should continue to exist, if it continues to
make the state dysfunctional.Dodik also said that the RS National
Assembly will adopt a decision to remove Serbian judges from the
Constitutional Court of BiH. Can a lower level of government impose
it’s decisions to a State?
I am not a lawyer, but it is my understanding that
the RS Assembly can name judges to the Court. I don’t know if can
remove them. Nor do I know what happens once their seats are empty.
I imagine the Court could continue to function without them.
Q: Dodik also said he would inform president of
Serbia Aleksandar Vučić about the newly created situation, adding
that he would ask for Vučić’s “understanding”. What do you think
about that?
A: I think it amounts to Dodik demonstrating once
again his disloyalty to the state. Vučić needs to read Dodik the
riot act, which in English means telling him that he has to stop the
nonsense.
The EU accession process is becoming more
conditioned. Brussels should make it clear to Vučić that getting
Dodik to stop undermining the functionality of the state in Bosnia
and Herzegovina is one of the conditions for Serbian progress in
negotiating accession.
Q: We now have HDZ BiH and it’s leader Dragan
Čović blocking the formation of the Federation government by
imposing changes to the Election Law on one side, as well as SNSD
and it’s leader Milorad Dodik blocking the work of state
instutitions on the other side. How do you comment on that?
A: Bosnia and Herzegovina is suffering because
Dayton ensured the persistence in power of ethnic nationalists who
conducted the 1992/95 war and remain uncommitted to the state. Until
that is fixed, such blockages will remain frequent. Ultimately, it
is up to the citizens whether they vote to undo the legal and
constitutional provisions that make governance so difficult.
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