The President of the HDZ BiH, Dragan Covic, announced yesterday that he would support the document agreed upon by the representatives of 12 parliamentary parties from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) the day before yesterday, with two amendments that he believes should be included in the text.
”During the day, President Covic will support yesterday’s statement with the addition of two small corrections, which should not be a problem for inclusion in the statement. At the same time, it would be extremely important for us, and it would add value to the document itself,” the circles close to Covic stated yesterday.
According to a section of the document adopted at a meeting in Brussels two nights ago, “BiH parliamentary party leaders reiterate their commitment to upholding the rule of law and holding free and democratic elections, as well as developing democratic institutions at all levels of government.”
Covic asks that the following be added to that sentence: ”In accordance with the agreement on the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights signed in Brussels on October 1st, 2013, and in accordance with the political agreement on the amendment of the electoral legislation signed in Mostar on June 17th, 2020.”
Also, Covic asks for changes to paragraph 11 of the agreed document, which says leaders agree that within six months of forming the government at all levels, they will adopt electoral and limited constitutional reforms that should be in line with judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, the BiH Constitutional Court, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) / Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) recommendations.
Furthermore, Covic wants a sentence to be inserted in that paragraph that says that “electoral reforms that will ensure the implementation of election results in relation to the houses of the people should be urgently adopted in accordance with the agreements mentioned in the preamble”, that is, with the agreement on the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights signed in Brussels on October 1st, 2013 and in accordance with the political agreement on the amendment of the electoral legislation signed in Mostar on June 17th, 2020.
It is not clear how these changes should be implemented, since the content of the agreement was agreed upon two nights ago, and all participants in the meeting left Brussels. This rather looks like an exit strategy of the HDZ BiH leader trying to amnesty his actions the day before yesterday. As things stand, this will be another in a series of Covic’s wishes that will not be fulfilled, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
