BiH received 105 Votes for Admission to the Council of Europe 15 years ago

On this day in 2002, at the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), was debated and voted for BiH to become a full member of the Council of Europe.

On that occasion, the majority of the representatives of the PACE was consistent with the fact that “the situation in BiH is bad, but it can be fixed only if BiH is accepted to the Council of Europe”, and the result of voting was 105 votes “for” and one vote “against”.

“This was a precondition for final accession to the Council of Europe which took place on the 24^th of April. Since then, BiH has received big rights, as well as obligations. First of all, our parliamentarians were given the right to start initiatives, participation in the preparation of reports and equal influence on everything that happens in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as well as parliamentarians from the other Member States,” said member of the Delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PA BiH) in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Sasa Magazinovic.

“BiH joined the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. Our country has been given the right to have a judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and the citizens were given the right to use their right if they think that their human rights have been violated, as well as many other rights,” said Magazinovic.

The importance of voting for accession to the Council of Europe, on the 22^nd of January 2002, as rapporteur of the Committee on Political Affairs Laszlo Surjan noted, was the fact that “BiH make it clear that integration is possible and close.”

“For me, today’s voting – 105 votes in favor and one ‘against’, is particularly important in light of the implementation of the Constitutional Court decision on the constituency and no one after that has right to agree on non-European solutions. None of the politicians in BiH, much less someone who comes in the name of the international community,” said former Foreign Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija after voting.

(Source: faktor.ba)