Members of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (RSRS) voted to stop the adoption of the Agreement on Freedom of Movement with Identity Cards in the Western Balkans, at the session held on Tuesday in Banja Luka.
This decision halted the introduction of a visa-free regime between Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Kosovo, although this was agreed upon by signing an agreement on mobility in the Western Balkans in November 2022 as part of the Berlin process.
All 64 deputies present voted for the decision, which required a two-thirds majority.
Bosnia and Herzegovina does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, due to the opposition of officials from the RS.
The ninth special session of the entity parliament was convened after Željka Cvijanović, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, launched a mechanism to protect the vital interests of the Republika Srpska, because two conclusions were adopted at the session of the collective head of state on June 21 without consensus, according to her, harmful to the vital interests of the RS.
The conclusion for the urgent adoption of the above-mentioned Agreement – and with it several other agreements on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications – as well as the adoption of the Action Plan for fulfilling 14 key priorities from the European Commission’s Opinion on BiH’s request for membership in the European Union is disputed.
The vital entity interest was unanimously confirmed in the case of the Action Plan, with 64 out of 64 votes.
These two decisions enter into force the day after their publication in the Official Gazette of the RS.
The entity parliament also adopted the conclusion of several party clubs, in which they condemn, as they state, “acts of violence, political persecution, imprisonment, and the continuous endangerment of the security situation for Serbs in the north of Kosovo.”
They also appeal that the relevant international actors take the necessary measures in order to normalize the situation in the north of Kosovo as soon as possible.
‘I believe that there are no conditions for enabling free movement’
In her opening address – during which she referred to Kosovo as “Kosovo with an asterisk” – she cited the escalation in the north of Kosovo in recent months as the reason for refusing to sign the agreement.
“As a responsible politician from the RS, I believe that there are no conditions for enabling the free movement of persons from Kosovo only on the basis of an identity card,” Cvijanović said.
She added that the institutions in Pristina, calling them “temporary”, are complicating the security situation in the region and assessed that they “do not leave the impression of a credible partner who would carry out his obligations from the agreements in question”.
For her, the positions of the Kosovo institutions headed by Prime Minister Aljbin Kurti are also disputed, which, as she stated, bring the RS into a negative context as “a bad example of the institutionalized autonomy of the Serbian people in the Balkans”, which cannot be used as a basis for resolving autonomy of Serbs in the north of Kosovo.
As for the second point of contention, Cvijanović points out that the biggest problem is that the key document for European integration, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers and entity governments – Decision on the system of coordination of the process of European integration in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is mentioned only once in that document.
“The coordination system regulates the way of communication between institutions in BiH with the aim of ensuring and presenting a harmonized position on behalf of BiH in communication with the institutions of the European Union”, it is stated on the website of the Directorate for European Integration of BiH.
According to the BiH Constitution, the NSRS has ten days to consider the statement of a member of the BiH Presidency from Republika Srpska that certain decisions are in conflict with the vital national interest.
If this legislative body confirms them by a two-thirds majority within the specified period – which is 56 out of 83 deputies – the contested conclusions of the BiH Presidency do not enter into force, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports.
