The Council of Ministers of BiH met. Again without reform laws, and this time there was no attempt to establish the Office of the Chief Negotiator with the European Union.
Two laws and the appointment of the Chief Negotiator separate BiH from opening negotiations with the European Union. The Council of Ministers, however, without priorities. There is no agreement. Opinions are also divided on the parallel procedure for appointing negotiators in the House of Representatives of BiH.
“We received a notification from the House of Representatives, which was finally read by Speaker Krišto, the Decision on the Establishment of the Office of the Chief Negotiator, and we discussed that a little. She will respond because she believes that it is not legal and that it is not based on the laws, so I asked her not to respond on behalf of the Council of Ministers because that is not our position. This is a clean, lawful, legal decision that may be the only valid one,” said Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH.
The ministers are not sure who is competent. In the end, the Court will decide.
“If it turns out that the decision in Parliament has in some way taken away the competence of the Council of Ministers or is in some way unconstitutional, of course we will respect that,” said Edin Forto, Minister of Communications and Transport of BiH.
Between the competences and the selection of candidates for the negotiator, the forgotten reform laws. The European Commission is asking for two, the Council of Ministers is not yet offering any.
“I believe that the story about the negotiator and the office of the negotiator should be temporarily put on the back burner until we do the more difficult tasks. If we are not able to pass two laws like this, what are we even talking about?”, adds Forto.
Nothing new on the country’s European path. Only debts are new in the entity. International disputes over failed concessions of the Republika Srpska are being collected again. And, the law firm is the same as in the Viaduct case. Whether due to debts in the millions or not, the ministers from the SNSD this time have no comments for the public. One is absent, the other is far from the cameras.
“Milorad Dodik’s lawyer is representing the party that is seeking another 102 million, I hope BAM. It is very interesting what kind of names are involved in this. Their involvement, their connections, need to be thoroughly checked. Well, that is the Milorad Dodik that you hear these days insulting people. While he is insulting people, he is putting his hands in the pockets of every citizen of RS,” added Konaković.
Due to the decision of the High Representative, the state is safe, and the entities are obliged to pay their debts. And, the ministers still have their usual obligations – to agree, establish and submit to Parliament laws that open the doors to the European Union, at least for negotiations, Federalna writes.
