The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, told reporters after the session of the BiH Council of Ministers that, as far as the director of the Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA) is concerned, an agreement was reached at the collegium to proceed with legal dismissal, Fena reports.
He explained that a legal dismissal means that a meeting of the Executive-Intelligence Committee formed by the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, must be held.
“Today we agreed that she should form it during the day or tomorrow. That committee meets on Monday, I think, and it consists of the chairperson and two deputies. The procedure for dismissing and appointing a new director of OSA starts at that committee, which then goes to consultations with the Presidency and the joint commission of both houses of parliament, which are in charge of supervising OSA’s work,” said Konaković.
He says that, from the political point of view, they agreed very easily today and that the procedure has been initiated.
“We don’t want to break the law. I don’t think it will last long at all, the replacement and appointment procedures are very simple,” said Konaković.
When asked about the possible names of the candidates, he said that everything that the media speculated about was mostly not those people.
“We will not talk about names. There is a lot of pressure. It is one of the most important institutions and positions in the entire BiH,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Speaking about the other appointments, he said that certain procedures have been completed.
“When it comes to candidates from the Bosniak quota, we did not agree with the proposals implemented by the SDA so far. We overturned those appointments and ordered the announcement of a new vacancy competition,” said Konaković.
Asked whether the information regarding the departure of rescue teams from BiH to Turkey was discussed today, he said that it was a very serious item on the agenda.
He says that Security Minister Nenad Nešić informed them about the processes that took place, and that today they have a slightly clearer understanding.
“This is a tragedy of enormous proportions and it is good that teams from BiH went to the place where all this is happening. Today we talked about it from the aspect of the legislation. Colleague Nešić says that he has not received a request for a reaction from any level of government,” Konaković stated.
He explained that according to the Framework Law on Protection and Rescue, there is a serious role of the Council of Ministers of BiH, which should have coordinated these teams and sent them and passed a number of other acts, such as the amount of compensation for people who go there.
Asked if the Eight parties have a majority in the Federal Parliament to form the FBiH government, he answered in the affirmative.
“We have a majority in the House of Representatives. The signatures have been collected and presented to our public, Nermin Nikšić is the candidate for the composition of the new government,” said Konaković.
The new government at the state level is preparing for the first personnel changes, and at the top of the list is the dismissal of the director of the Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA), Osman Mehmedagic.
The new government’s proposal for the new OSA director will be Samir Suljagic.
According to certain information, Suljagic worked for the intelligence service of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) from 1994 to 2001 and was dismissed by mutual consent.
Elmedin Konakovic (NiP) has often commented on the dismissal of the OSA director and the appointment of his deputy. Yesterday morning he told that reconciliations are still ongoing, but that the new director is an ethical and moral person.
The Council of Ministers will meet today, but there is no item on the proposed agenda dealing with the dismissal of the OSA director.
As it was found out, Suljagic is suggested by the SDP and his name has already been submitted to certain embassies as a form of consultation. Namely, until now, in the context of the new OSA director, Erduan Kafedzicwas mentioned as a potential candidate and “favorite” above all of the American embassy.
In other words, the procedure for appointing the director of OSA is that the Council of Ministers appoints and dismisses him on the proposal of the chairman and in consultation with the members of the BiH Presidency, the Executive Committee and the Security-Intelligence Commission.
According to the rulebook, the director is appointed on the basis of demonstrated professionalism and experience gained in intelligence and security affairs. The General Director of OSA is appointed for a term of four years and can be renewed once, Klix.ba reports.
