The political scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina is more heated than ever. Although it seemed that the election of Darko Babalj had put out the fire, the SNSD is already announcing a new name for a member of the collegium. Dodik does not admit that the collegium of the House of Representatives is filled, if the seat reserved for a member of the collegium from the ranks of the Serb people is not occupied by the SNSD. It is difficult to define what the situation on the political scene is at the moment. It seems that all options are open, BHRT writes.
Emergency sessions, agendas filled with the names of potential candidates for dismissals, without specific laws, without a secured majority to make the dismissals and implement them, are what we have witnessed recently. If we add to this the publicly announced, but held far from the public, meetings that promised a new majority, they clearly indicate that the political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is far from normal. The only thing that has managed to be realized in the last month is that Darko Babalj sits in the collegium of the House of Representatives instead of Nebojša Radmanović.
Šerif Špago, member of the ZD PSBiH (SDA):
“It is good that the collegium is full, so that decisions can be made in the House of Representatives. Another thing is that we have the PS, that is, in the collegium we have one majority, and in the Council of Ministers we have another. We practically have no flow, primarily of laws, that is, of our obligations on the European path.”
If this continues, we will lose the opportunity that we have been waiting for so long since the last meeting in Brussels. Without concrete laws, we cannot make progress on the EU path, but without a decisive government we cannot even adopt those laws.
Marinko Čavara, member of the Collegium of the ZD PSBiH (HDZBiH):
“Instead of uniting all forces to respond to the challenges that lie ahead of us, we are dealing with who will replace whom, whether we will have a normal majority to work with, and whether we will be able to work at ordinary sessions to agree on major steps forward on the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
SNSD, which wants a coalition with the election winners, could complicate the political scene and continue the blockades in the Parliamentary Assembly. It is clear that the government is not formed halfway through a political mandate, but the question is whether SNSD wants to block the European path or return to old partners.
Sanja Vulić, representative of the ZD PSBiH (SNSD):
“The representatives of the coalition of three (Trojka), obviously like three, so let them talk to the Serbian Trojkas, and we will continue the dialogue, as was realistic and normal from the very beginning, which is with the legitimate winners of the elections.
On the other hand, the Trojka no longer wants SNSD as their partner, at least that is what they say publicly.
They have not broken off the official partnership, but they have tried to bring their positions closer to the opposition parties from the RS through talks. At this point, it is unclear whether a new coalition majority is in sight or just firefighting.
Mladen Bosić, representative of the ZD PSBiH (SDS):
“We are not part of the parliamentary majority, ministers from other parties still sit in the Council of Ministers. This activity is just putting out the fire and taking on only a small part of the responsibility for saving the action against the blockade of institutions, because here the blockade of institutions is clearly forcing other things.”
Regardless of the election of a member of the collegium from the ranks of the Serbian people who was supposed to be the saving straw towards unblocking the institutions. Due to the unclear political scene in which it is not known who is in power and who is just talking, analysts are warning that the blockades could continue.
The crisis of power is ongoing and this circus will continue for some time. At the moment, I do not see any promising scenario and it seems to me that in fact everything we are seeing is more or less predictable. So, this initiative to remove Konaković, at the beginning they were worried that it would not pass, in the end, it was the SDA representatives who said that they did not care what the results of the vote would be and that it was only important to open the issue of questioning the trust and status of the current government. It was a kind of play without any real content.
The drama will continue, as two requests for dismissals, which should replace SNSD ministers Staša Košarac and Srđan, are saying from the drawer.
These requests will not have support, because we have seen on two occasions that HDZ and SNSD stand firmly by each other. HDZ has twice saved SNSD’s Nikola Špirić from dismissal, as well as Elmedin Konaković, and it is clear that without their votes, Košarac and Amidžić cannot be dismissed either.
