Nenad Nešić was the last Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a year ago. His arrest last December left the seat in the Council of Ministers of BiH vacant. This issue has become a political bargaining chip in which the competition is still ongoing, so Ivica Bošnjak, the deputy, took over the position of acting minister. Six months ago, the House of Representatives supported the proposal that Nebojša Vukanović be the minister. And that’s where it all stopped.
While serving as Minister of Security, Nenad Nešić was arrested. After five months in detention, Nešić was released. No charges were filed. He resigned from the position of minister for moral reasons. This was supposed to facilitate the appointment of a new one, but it did not happen. Delegate Zlatko Miletić believes that, in accordance with the law on the Council of Ministers, the Speaker Borjana Krišto is responsible for the failure to appoint him.
“I really believe that this is their shifting of responsibility, and by not appointing a Minister of Security in the Council of Ministers, they are protecting the SNSD’s back. And in fact, this axis has been created where we are spinning in this vicious circle from which we cannot escape. The Coalition of the Three (Troika) pretends that they are there, but they also have their share of responsibility, because the Council of Ministers does not function in the way that is provided for by law,” Miletić points out.
Even the Troika is demanding answers from Chairwoman Krišto. They are demanding that she, as Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers, submit a proposal for the appointment of Minister of Security, Nebojša Vukanović, to the parliamentary procedure. This initiative is six months old. Krišto has ignored these demands. The appointment of Vukanović would prevent the SNSD from blocking European laws, which has now become a practice.
“If the HDZ BiH stops its systemic support for the SNSD by appointing a Minister of Security, whose proposal was signed by 19 representatives, we would abolish this element of the blockade within the Council of Ministers of BiH,” says Nihad Omerović, a representative of NiP in the BiH PA.
“This is the moment when we ask whether and why it will not appoint a Minister of Security from the opposition from the RS in the coming period, in order to unblock the Council of Ministers and our EU path. The HDZ is an accomplice in this process, no matter how much they claim they are not,” says Edin Forto, Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH.0
“I do not know what Minister Forto called me. I can also ask, I do not know where Forto came from, just like the Minister of Security. That would mean nothing to the institution of the Council of Ministers and its work,” says the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Borjana Krišto.
It is also interesting that Nenad Nešić was given the ministerial position that the SNSD and its coalition partners from the RS received. With Nešić’s departure and the failure to appoint a new minister, the HDZ is now effectively taking that position away from the SNSD, but the SNSD sees nothing controversial in that.
“When it comes to the functioning of the Council of Ministers, we are entering a phase of conditioning, which results in blockades,” says Srđan Amidžić, Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH.
While the SNSD is conditioning BiH’s European path and blocking the work of the Council of Ministers, the RS opposition is once again reminding us that the appointment of Nebojša Vukanović means absolute domination over the SNSD.
“We have shown as the opposition that we are ready to vote for these EU laws, but we have been receiving the message all along from the HDZ BiH that we do not have enough political capacity and that we are not partners, and that they should preserve their partnership relations. When we set out to punish the HDZ by dismissing Čavara, we did not receive support from the Troika either,” points out Nenad Grković, a representative of the List for Order and Justice in the BiH PA.
In addition to the HDZ being the culprit, analysts also see the Troika parties as the culprit.
“HDZ is an accomplice because it is blocking the appointment of the Minister of Security, but the Troika is an accomplice,” believes political analyst Sead Numanović.
“You chose them, I did not propose them to you, you chose HDZ and SNSD as partners. Now find a way to do it by the end of your term. You cannot behave like someone who is offended and now you say ‘I will not go with you’, when in fact you cannot do without him,” says analyst and journalist Almir Terzić.
Almost everyone who has held the position of Minister of Security has had problems with the law. Of the seven ministers, six have been prosecuted during their term or after. There were those who bought off their fines, but also those who were acquitted of all charges. The only one who was not involved in any scandal is Bariša Čolak.
