The leader of the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH (HDZ BiH) Dragan Čović said today in Vienna that representatives of the authorities in Republika Srpska should determine where the headquarters of the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH will be, if there is already an agreement that that division should be in the RS.
“I don’t see any limitation from that side. It’s a classical political issue, not a legal one. I hope that in the end it will be agreed,” Cović told reporters in Vienna where, together with the President of the RS Milorad Dodik and the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nermin Nikšić, participated in a panel discussion on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Commenting on the sanctions that the USA imposed yesterday on Dodik’s closest associates, he said that any sanctions, on anyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina, have not brought anything good in the past thirty years.
According to him, BiH’s path to the EU is incompatible with the institution of a high international representative and the use of “Bonn powers”.
“I am convinced that the opening of the negotiation process basically means the displacement of the institution of the high representative from BiH, but also the influence on the Constitution and laws in BiH,” Čović emphasized.
He is convinced that Bosnia and Herzegovina will receive an invitation next Thursday and open the negotiation process with the EU.
The Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, Nermin Nikšić, said that BiH is moving towards the same goal, and that it is time for the idea that there is no alternative to talk, agreement and compromise to finally mature.
“I sincerely hope that we will get the green light to open negotiations, open negotiations, and then I think that our internal relations should relax,” he said.
Speaking about the Law on Courts in BiH and why the Appellate Division cannot be in Banja Luka, he emphasized that it is a political issue on which no agreement has yet been reached.
“Compromise implies that no one gains 100 percent and no one loses 100 percent. The appellate department can be in East Sarajevo,” he emphasized.
The Law on the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the three laws that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to adopt in order for the European Council to make a decision on the opening of accession negotiations on March 21.
Laws on preventing money laundering and conflict of interest were previously adopted in the BiH parliament, BHRT writes.
