The Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Krišto, stated after today’s session in Sarajevo that this institution should first make a decision on the establishment of the Office of the Chief Negotiator of BiH with the European Union, which has its own legal basis, and only then proceed with the proposal for the appointment of the Chief Negotiator and Deputy.
She added that the decision in question, which was presented at the session today and which was prepared for more than a year, envisages the appointment of a main body, the Chief Negotiator with two deputies who cannot be from the same constituent peoples, who are based in Sarajevo and Brussels, and that this is an operational technical body of the Council of Ministers that would negotiate with the institutions of the European Union.
Krišto stated that the obligation of the Council of Ministers would be, if a decision to that effect were adopted, to appoint the Chief Negotiator and his deputies within the next 30 days, and in fact establish the office as a temporary body.
– I emphasized at the session that we do not have any explicit authority to make such a decision in our Constitution and laws, but we also have the legal basis for making and establishing a temporary Office of the Chief Negotiator, in accordance with the Law on the Council of Ministers and the authorities arising from the law, because it is a body that serves the Council of Ministers and it is a temporary and technical, or operational body. So, in my opinion, today we all understood that in fact and through the discussion, that it is exclusively the authority of the Council of Ministers and we can make that decision – said Krišto.
She expressed regret that the decision was not adopted today because it is our obligation as well as the adoption of two more laws, after which we can expect a stronger step forward, which is the holding of the first intergovernmental conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the European Union and the opening of negotiations. – In the end, there were not many objections to the content today, but there was no political will to adopt that decision – concluded Krišto and expressed her belief that a solution to the issue will be found.
