KOVAČEVIĆ: SNSD REPRESENTS REPUBLIKA SRPSKA IN SARAJEVO, OPPOSITION REPRESENTS SARAJEVO IN SRPSKA

SARAJEVO, MAY 4 /SRNA/ – SNSD representatives in joint institutions will continue to protect the Constitution and represent Republika Srpska in Sarajevo, while the opposition from Republika Srpska represents Sarajevo in Republika Srpska, Srpska delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Radovan Kovačević has stated today.

"That opposition story will not pass! We saw yesterday, unfortunately, an incident in Sarajevo where football players from Republika Srpska and all Serbs were shouted at with 'Kill the Serb'. But again, as before, fighters from Republika Srpska will come to Sarajevo who will be champions," Kovačević said. Following today's session of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, he said that the Law on Restricting Disposal of Property for the Purpose of Preventing Terrorism, Financing Terrorism and Financing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction was adopted, stressing that it is an important legal solution that was previously accepted by consensus in the Council of Ministers. "Today, delegates discussed who deserves credit for the fact that this law was voted on, who does not, who enabled it and who did not. The law was proposed by the Council of Ministers," Kovačević emphasized. He reminded that the law was not on the agenda of the House of Peoples for the first time today, but for the sixth time, adding that those who claim credit for its adoption today should remember that five times earlier, when it was on the agenda, they did everything to prevent sessions from being held. "So that the law would not be adopted, because they put other things as a priority compared to this law and other laws for which we had consensus to adopt," he said, adding that today it was shown that everything is possible when there is a will. Speaking about claims regarding the lack of quorum in some sessions of the House of Peoples, Kovačević said that this is a constitutionally guaranteed right of each of the three constituent peoples in BiH, noting that at one session where there was no quorum, Chairman Kemal Ademović said: "We have a general majority, but not a quorum majority." "If you do not have a quorum, you do not have any majority or ability to work. He was giving some colleagues the floor, and they discussed who was to blame, who was not, who was responsible, who was not. If the Constitution gives you the possibility to control the quorum, then it also determines that without you there is no majority," Kovačević underlined. He reminded that opposition representatives in Republika Srpska also leave the National Assembly of Republika Srpska at almost every session, but that sessions continue and decisions are made. "The moment you have a quorum, then you can talk about a majority. When you do not have a quorum, you cannot talk about a majority. The Constitution gave this to the Serb people, and to the Croat and Bosniak peoples, so that they can be protected," Kovačević stressed. Kovačević said that the assessment of when to protect Serb, Croat or Bosniak interests is made by those who have that constitutional possibility, and in this case that is SNSD, which protects the Serb people, as well as HDZ, which protects the Croat people. "And there is no single grouping within the Bosniak people that has that strength to represent the Bosniak people in that way. But we must not forget that, unlike the situation in the Serb Club where representatives of the minority are constantly together with Bosniak representatives, they are united in the Bosniak people. And we had a situation in the House of Peoples for a year when the Bosniak Club blocked the work of the House of Peoples just because they did not like one agenda item, even though it was something the Constitution obliges us to do," Kovačević said.