The Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Stasa Kosarac, said that the recommendation of Denis Becirovic, a member of the BiH Presidency, on the drafting and adoption of the BiH Gas Law is absolutely unacceptable and represents a gross attack on the Republika Srpska (RS)‘s constitutional rights.
”I will not support such a proposal, because it represents a gross attack on the constitutional competences of the RS. The law on gas at the BiH level will not be adopted because that issue is within the entity’s primary constitutional jurisdiction,” said Kosarac.
Support of the Energy Community
He reminded that in the legislative sense, the RS fulfilled all the recommendations of the Energy Community, in contrast to the FBiH, which has not adopted the necessary laws to date.
”The RS passed a law on gas, electricity and renewable energy sources, and all these legal solutions have the support of the Energy Community. This fact was highlighted in every conversation I had with representatives of the Energy Community. The problem is in the Federation of BiH (FBiH),” emphasized Kosarac.
He reminded that the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations in the Council of Ministers is working intensively on harmonization and coordination with the relevant ministries from the RS and FBiH on the drafting of the law on the regulator of electricity and natural gas.
”No decision will be referred to the procedure without the consent of the RS institutions. We are actively cooperating on this issue, respecting constitutional competences. I believe that in the end we will come to a solution that will comply with the European directives,” said Kosarac.
The President of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, pointed out that “no regulator for gas will be formed at the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) level and that there is no transfer of responsibilities because entities are responsible for energy issues”.
“Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Denis Becirovic, is behaving very presumptuously because he knows that the issue of the regulator for gas is not within the jurisdiction of the BiH Presidency, but he is trying to re-impose it as a topic”, wrote Dodik on Twitter.
Becirovic submitted a recommendation for the drafting and adoption of the BiH gas law in the procedure, in which he proposes the abolition of entity regulators and the establishment of a regulator for natural gas at the level of BiH.
After the member of the BiH Presidency, Denis Bećirović, submitted to the official procedure a recommendation for the drafting and adoption of the BiH Gas Law, the Chairperson of the BiH Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, stated that energy is under the jurisdiction of the entity.
“Accordingly, the Ministry of Energy, i.e. the Government of Republika Srpska, as well as the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, decide on these issues,” said Cvijanović to Srna news agency, commenting on the recommendation for the drafting and adoption of the gas law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was submitted to the procedure by the member of the BiH Presidency, Denis Bećirović.
Central to Bećirović’s proposal is the abolition of unconstitutional entity regulators and the establishment of a state regulator for the field of natural gas with adequate powers and instruments for their implementation.
