High Representative Christian Schmidt announced a few days ago that he will solve the problem of the formation of authorities in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina if no internal agreement is reached.
According to various sources of Klix.ba and other media, a temporary decision is ready, which should be made by the end of the month.
According to the latest information, the high representative has prepared a final decision that will not entail additional changes to the FBiH Constitution, but rather it will be a kind of temporary decision according to which, as stated in diplomatic circles, “due to the specific political situation” the consent of all members of the FBiH leadership will not be required to the government would be appointed.
This would be achieved by introducing the possibility of a veto on the appointment of the FBiH Government, but it would have to be defended by a two-thirds majority in the People’s Club of the FBiH House of Peoples of the member of the FBiH leadership who exercises the veto. It is certain that it would now be Refik Lendo (SDA).
According to the current constellation of political power in the Club of Bosniaks, the SDA does not have the necessary 16 delegates to overturn the nomination, however, there are always battles in the background that are not visible to the public. What is visible to us is that the SDA has 12 delegates, with the DF 13, and that is not enough to prevent the formation of a government. In addition to them, NiP (5), SDP (2), NES (2), SBiH (1) also have delegates.
If the Eight remained together, which is also questionable in recent days judging by public statements, this temporary decision by Schmidt would only mean the expulsion of SDA and DF from power.
Dragan Čović’s certainty that the FBiH Government will be formed in the next two weeks also shows that those who plan to form the FBiH Government are hoping for that.
In addition, the portal Bild.ba, which previously had verified information from the HDZ, writes that Schmidt’s temporary decision to place Lendo’s will in the House of Peoples of FBiH is quite certain. They point out that Schmidt will make a decision after Easter and Eid.
However, the decision of the FBiH leadership on the appointment of the government must be confirmed by the House of Representatives, and this could become a problem for the Eight, given that the NES and the SBiH have been saying for a long time that they will not support a temporary solution.
According to Klix.ba, there is currently a big political fight in the ranks of the parliamentary parties considering that Schmidt will not bring solutions as long as there is a questionable majority in the House of Representatives that needs to confirm the Government of FBiH because in that case he would once again appear frivolous.
As far as we know, no one currently has a majority. The SDA is trying to provide it with the votes of the representatives of the NES and SBiH, who from the very beginning have a clear position regarding Schmidt’s decisions, while the HDZ and the Eight, on the other hand, are working to maintain the majority they once had.
The fight is being waged for only two or three “hands” in the Parliament
In order for the government to be confirmed, a majority is needed in the House of Representatives, which has 98 representatives, i.e. 50 hands, and the situation is quite tight.
DF and SDA together have 38 votes, and judging by public statements, they could ultimately have the votes of the representatives of NES (5) and SBiH (4). In that case, they would lack only two deputies to the required 49 to overturn the appointment of the government.
The Three and HDZ, on the other hand, together have 43 hands. It is expected that they should certainly have the support of one PDA and BHI-KF representative each, which would ultimately mean that without NES and SBiH, they still lack five hands to appoint a government.
FINAL ACT
Why is everyone, except HDZ, calling for a permanent solution and what does the battle for the majority in the FBiH Parliament look like?
It is interesting that at this moment even HDZ 1990, which has three representatives, is not sure of its support for The Eight and HDZ. They are also suddenly bothered by a temporary solution, but there are allegedly certain interests in HNK in the middle, thus complicating the situation for Čović.
However, if they are satisfied and receive their three representatives, the formation of the government still requires a minimum of two more hands, out of the three remaining in the House of Representatives. PoMAK from Krajina, Croatian National Movement and the Croatian Republican Party, which is the opposition party to the HDZ, still have one representative each, Klix.ba reports.
