OŠAP GAĆANOVIĆ TO NEŠKOVIĆ: NEXT TIME, VOTE INSTEAD OF ABSTAINING

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 13 /SRNA/ – Anđelina Ošap Gaćanović, a member of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments representing Republika Srpska, told Želimir Nešković that he should vote rather than abstain in future if he genuinely wants to protect the interests of Republika Srpska and oppose attempts to recast Serbian identity and cultural heritage as that of so-called "Bosnians."

"Želimir Nešković’s political efforts should be directed against policies that have for years sought to turn the Commission to Preserve National Monuments from a Dayton institution into an instrument of political Sarajevo," Ošap Gaćanović said in a statement to SRNA. She stressed that, in the struggle to preserve Serbian national identity, she expects representatives of Republika Srpska to stand on the same side, regardless of which political party they belong to. Responding to a statement by SDS delegate in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Želimir Nešković that the veto exercised by Serb member of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović at the BiH level was, as he put it, a serious problem for Republika Srpska, Ošap Gaćanović said Nešković had no credibility to criticize the Serb member of the Presidency because he had had an opportunity, within his parliamentary powers, to support the protection of the law and the interests of Republika Srpska in the Commission to Preserve National Monuments - and had failed to use it. "When the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly considered the report of the parliamentary commission that had conducted oversight of the work of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, initiated by an SNSD delegate and highlighting numerous irregularities and violations of the law, the report was adopted thanks to the votes of three SNSD delegates and four Croat delegates, while Nešković and Nenad Vuković abstained, together with the Bosniak delegates," Ošap Gaćanović stressed. She reminded that the report had narrowly escaped rejection because of cooperation between the Serb opposition and Bosniak parties, adding that the report now serves as the basis for action by the BiH Prosecutor's Office. Therefore, she said, it is least convincing for someone who, when he had a vote and an institutional mechanism at his disposal to act, chose to abstain to now lecture others about protecting the Commission and the interests of Republika Srpska. She also recommended that Nešković look back at earlier news reports to see what happened to the Commission at the end of January this year and what political and institutional moves the Serb member of the Presidency opposed. "Two members of the Presidency from the Federation of BiH, without having the authority to do so, initiated the adoption of an act regulating the work of the Commission, although under the Dayton Peace Accords that authority belongs exclusively to the Commission," Ošap Gaćanović reminded the SDS delegate. She stressed that Cvijanović had already exercised her veto at the time against an attempt by Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić to change, without authority, the Commission's method of operation, composition and decision-making system, while they challenged her right to block such a decision through the protective mechanism. "There were public 'disputes' in the media over the veto submitted at the end of January. We had an opportunity to see Bećirović demand that the decision be signed, while Komšić sought the position of the Office of the High Representative, which he did not receive. Nevertheless, they independently decided to violate the Rules of Procedure and have the signed decision published in the Official Gazette of BiH, thereby challenging the Serb veto. By violating the procedures, they legitimized unlawful conduct," Ošap Gaćanović explained. When they attempted in June to continue with further steps and establish a new composition of the Commission without a member from Republika Srpska and with two foreign members, Ošap Gaćanović pointed out, the Serb member of the Presidency invoked the constitutional mechanism for protecting vital interests and immediately referred the matter to the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, which endorsed her veto by the required majority, with both the ruling parties and the opposition supporting it. "Mr Nešković had his opportunity, and his current criticism comes two years too late. Next time, instead of abstaining, he should vote," Ošap Gaćanović said.