CHALLENGING VETO REGARDING ANNEX 8 OF DAYTON AGREEMENT IS UNACCEPTABLE

SARAJEVO, JULY 8 /SRNA/ - Challenging the right of a member of the Presidency of BiH to invoke a veto is an attack on one of the fundamental principles of the Dayton Peace Agreement, and it is particularly unacceptable to attempt to challenge a confirmed veto concerning Annex 8 of that agreement, which regulates matters related to the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, lawyer Ognjen Tadić told SRNA.

Tadić reminded that the veto in the Presidency of BiH is not some subsequent political privilege, but a constitutional mechanism that predates the Dayton Peace Agreement itself. "Its introduction into the peace package through the New York Principles of September 1995 was one of the key prerequisites for establishing peace that year and an integral part of the political compromise on which BiH rests," Tadić said. He warned that, for this reason, challenging the right of any member of the Presidency of BiH to invoke a veto represents an attempt to undermine the Dayton constitutional order, disrupt the equality of the constituent peoples, and call into question the political agreement that made peace and the existence of BiH possible. He stressed that 20 years ago the Constitutional Court already declared itself not competent to rule on matters arising from Annex 8. "However, even if that were not the case, no one can claim the authority to annul or render meaningless the constitutional right of a member of the Presidency of BiH to use the veto mechanism. Such an attempt represents a serious encroachment on the constitutional architecture of the Dayton Agreement and a dangerous precedent that threatens the foundations upon which peace in BiH rests," Tadić concluded. Yesterday, at a special session, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska confirmed by a two-thirds majority the statement of the Serb member of the Presidency of BiH, Željka Cvijanović, that the decision of the Presidency of BiH on appointment of members of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, adopted without consensus at a session of that joint institution, was highly detrimental to the vital interests of Republika Srpska. Chairman of the Presidency of BiH Denis Bećirović announced that he would initiate proceedings before the Constitutional Court of BiH after the National Assembly confirmed Cvijanović's veto.