KOVAČEVIĆ: ACQUITTAL OF THE PRESIDENT OF SRPSKA – THE ONLY REALISTIC OUTCOME

SARAJEVO, JULY 16 /SRNA/ – The delegate in the Serb Caucus of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, Radovan Kovačević, stated that the only realistic outcome is for the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to be acquitted before the Court of BiH, because the BiH Constitution stipulates that the only institution that can amend and adopt laws is the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.

“Considering that this entire political persecution of the President of Republika Srpska, in both cases, is being carried out on the basis of laws not adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, it is clear what kind of circus and scandal this is,” Kovačević emphasized. Speaking to reporters in Sarajevo, he said there was no such thing as Dodik surrendering, adding that if anyone surrendered, it was certainly not the President of Srpska. Responding to a question about whether Christian Schmidt would impose something, Kovačević said he wondered why no one was asking themselves what kind of place they were all living in here in BiH. He pointed out that people are talking about some foreigner imposing the BiH budget, on which depend the salaries of those living here, the servicing of foreign debts, and the holding of elections. According to him, the Council of Ministers forwarded the draft budget into further procedure and it was placed on the agenda of the Presidency of BiH. Kovačević said that not only did the budget fail to pass at the Presidency session, but that someone refused to participate in decision-making at all, and he asked why that was the case. He emphasized that someone in BiH is deliberately creating a deadlock and added that when someone does not like the budget proposal, they have the possibility to propose amendments, change the budget, and send it into parliamentary procedure. Kovačević said that what is happening here is that someone deliberately does not want discussions to take place in the joint institutions of BiH, but rather wants, calls for, and lobbies for someone else, some foreigner, to impose the budget outside the Constitution, the Dayton Peace Accords, international law, and the UN Charter. “If you think that is normal, and that this is the kind of country you want to live in, I have no words,” Kovačević said, adding that Serbs do not want to live in such a country.