Members of the Ad Hoc Inquiry Commission of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to determine the situation in the BiH judicial institutions held a video meeting today with members of the United States Congress and representatives of the US Embassy in Sarajevo, where information was exchanged on the work of the Inquiry Commission and the experiences of similar inquiry commissions of the US Congress in conducting parliamentary oversight, said the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.
At a meeting representing the continuation of cooperation between the Inquiry Commission of the House of Representatives and the US Congress, a member of the Subcommittee on Supervision and Investigation of the US Congress Committee on Energy and Trade, Congressman Markwayne Mullin and Vice President of the Subcommittee for oversight and investigation of the US Congressional Committee on Energy and Trade Alan Slobodin gave their addresses.
The US congressional officials focused on balancing the political pressure faced by members of parliamentary inquiry commissions with the need to produce a meaningful, useful, and influential report that should result in concrete positive reforms in society.
At the same time, representatives of the US Congress shared with members of the Inquiry Commission experiences regarding parliamentary investigations and oversight.
Representatives of the US Congress welcomed the work of the Inquiry Commission, expressing confidence that its pioneering endeavor would contribute to improving the situation in the BiH judiciary and establish new standards in parliamentary oversight, with strong parliamentary oversight becoming a good practice in BiH in many other areas.
According to Congressman Mullin, the Inquiry Commission of the House of Representatives of the PA BiH represents a historical precedent and an opportunity to establish a foundation for future parliamentary inquiry commissions, as well as for the public to accept and support strong oversight through the establishment of guidelines, reporting methods, work methodology and investigation procedure and for the public to support the role of the state parliament in BiH.
In this regard, the representatives of the US Congress pointed out the need to avoid politically motivated investigations, as well as the importance of gathering true evidence and facts that should lead to concrete results of the investigation.
They also stressed the importance of presenting the results of the investigation and reports to target groups and the general public.
Thanks to the concrete support provided by the US Congress and the US Embassy in BiH to the work of the Inquiry Commission, the members of the Commission informed the representatives of the US Congress about the mandate and results in the work of the Commission so far.
Stressing that the Inquiry Commission, with the strong support of the international community, has overcome numerous problems and pressures it faced at the beginning of the investigation into the situation in the BiH judicial institutions, members of the Commission said they have heard a huge number of witnesses in the last few months, in the course of drafting a report aimed at significantly contributing to the improvement of the situation in the judiciary, reforming the legal framework for the functioning of judicial institutions and creating conditions for eliminating political influence in the judiciary and fighting corruption, which are key conditions for BiH to be granted a candidate status to join the European Union.
