KOVAČEVIĆ: SCHMIDT'S DECISION, SUPPORTED BY EU, CAUSED POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE AND HALTED BiH'S EU PATH

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 18 /SRNA/ – Serb deputy to the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Radovan Kovačević says BiH is in the deepest political crisis since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, and warned that this is not something that can be ignored or bypassed.

"Citizens of BiH, both in the FBiH and Republika Srpska, happened to vote and elected their representatives in accordance with the BiH Constitution and the constitutions of Republika Srpska and FBiH. Then, the persecution of democratically elected officials took place based on something completely contrary to the BiH Constitution," Kovačević clarified in the meeting of the EU-BiH Parliamentary Stabilization and Association Committee. He stressed that an individual, presenting himself as the high representative in BiH, whose name is Chritian Schmidt, although not appointed in accordance with Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, was trying to represent himself as the high representative beyond and contrary to the Constitution of BiH and was imposing certain laws, including those the most sensitive in every country that would like to present itself as democratic, referring to the Criminal Code and the Electoral Law. "The Constitution of BiH clearly states that there is only one single institution authorized to adopt and amend laws, and that institution is where we are currently located – the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The Constitution of BiH does not say that the Parliamentary Assembly may, and maybe someone else might if they feel like it. No! It states exclusively that the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH is entitled. If someone else can, especially a foreigner who came to BiH uninvited, without office, at least not one that is binding under the Dayton Peace Agreement, which is Annex 10 – then the question arises: what are we even doing here, what are we pretending to be, what is our role in all of this?" Kovačević emphasized. He also added that he always asks the question – is there any country in the EU where something like this is possible, or has there ever been such a practice in any EU country when it was EU membership candidate, like BiH is? "Are those European values? Which cluster do those belong to – where you have a foreigner who, contrary to the Constitution, imposes laws, and what kind of laws!? Do you know what that imposed amendment to the Criminal Code by Schmidt looks like? It says that whoever does not respect my decisions will go to jail. Well, that doesn't exist anywhere in the world and hasn't for at least a century, especially not in what we want to call a free Europe, or a free and democratic Europe," Kovačević stated in his address. And then, he says, based on that, we had a judicial process that looked much more like judicial persecution. "I don't want to list all the qualifications that can be used to describe that politically motivated judicial persecution, which, based on such an unconstitutional amendment to the law, resulted in a guilty verdict against someone who was elected by the majority will of the Republika Srpska citizens to be their leader and president of the Republic. I must remind you that, according to the Constitution, BiH is composed of two entities and three constituent peoples, and here, based on something done against the Constitution of BiH, a political persecution was carried out through a judicial process against the leader of one of the two entities and one of the three constituent peoples in BiH. If that’s not a cause for crisis, if that's not something that triggers a political earthquake, then I don’t know what is," Kovačević emphasized. Reflecting on the situation before this politically motivated judicial persecution orchestrated by Christian Schmidt, Kovačević recalled that BiH had a government that functioned better than ever before, one that finally showed it could deliver what the EU's demands toward BiH are, having adopted seven laws passed by the Council of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly. "Colleagues here have said that we must know who is undermining and who is supporting the European path of BiH, who is blocking and who is destroying European laws. I now have to ask you - do you know how many of those seven laws came from the political party or group they represent? Zero! All seven of those laws were proposed exclusively by SNSD ministers from Republika Srpska and HDZ ministers from the FBiH. Those are the results on the ground," Kovačević emphasized. When it comes to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council /HJPC/, Kovačević said that it was adopted in the Council of Ministers, but was unfortunately rejected in the Parliamentary Assembly. It was rejected, he said, by the parties of Kemal Ademović and Mia Abazović-Karamehić, who are both from the same party /People and Justice – NiP/, by Šefik Džaferović's party /SDA/, and by opposition parties from Republika Srpska, who are now trying to present themselves as supporters of the European path. "Those people who claim to support the European path of BiH have not unanimously supported a single law adopted on that path. Not a single one - zero. And yet we talk about Republika Srpska being the problem, and how Republika Srpska is supposedly, for some reason - and I've explained how important that reason is - causing problems for BiH's European path," explained Kovačević, who is also the SNSD spokesperson. As for the Growth Plan, he added, that reform programme was worked on jointly by SNSD members, partners from the Federation of BiH and Republika Srpska representatives. "We entered the Council of Ministers and voted for the Growth Plan. Someone else rejected it, which had nothing to do with SNSD. In the meantime, a new problem emerged, including the issues I already spoke about. Currently, that reform programme faces 777 objections submitted by all levels of government in BiH - from the cantons, both entities, and even the joint institutions at the state level, which are supposed to adopt the reform. Our position is that a dialogue is required between the political leaders in BiH who negotiated that reform programme, and that this is something that could be resolved in one day if there’s a willingness to have dialogue," Kovačević pointed out. Referring to the statement by Luigi Soreca, the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, who said that when people in BiH act in unity, they can deliver and produce results, Kovačević asked why then did they support something else, why did they support breaking that unified approach, why did they support attacks and political persecution of just one side in BiH? "I also must say that I'm affected by a public opinion survey from two days ago, conducted by a very serious American agency in Republika Srpska. Support for BiH’s European path has fallen well below 50 percent and that deeply saddens me. My party and I have supported the European path from day one and we are by far the biggest stakeholders in BiH's European integration. But these are now the facts on the ground. Also, the citizens of Republika Srpska, as shown in the same survey - clearly say who they believe is responsible for the crisis in BiH. When offered options such as: Christian Schmidt, the government of Republika Srpska, official Sarajevo, the Trump administration, the European administration in Brussels - the number one response was absolutely Schmidt and the European administration in Brussels, which supported all this and said, `Yes, there is a final court judgment that must be respected.` Where are there verdicts in the EU passed contrary to the Constitution of that country? There is no answer to that," Kovačević concluded. At the end of his speech, Kovačević expressed hope that there will someday be an opportunity to speak in a brighter tone, which currently is neither bright nor cheerful - but he hopes things will improve.