By breaking the quorum in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), SNSD has once again saved the chairman of this house Nikola Spiric and state ministers Stasa Kosarac and Srdjan Amidzic from dismissal. The emergency session was interrupted, and SNSD’s positions are still secure. However, the future of the House of Peoples is more uncertain than ever. From session to session, the scenario of blockage repeats, with no sign of a solution. There is no quorum, dismissals are being prevented, and the adoption of laws is being postponed. What remains are mutual accusations between caucuses for the resulting crisis. From crisis to crisis, and in the meantime into blockades. And so it has been for four months.
The dismissal of Spiric, Kosarac, and Amidzic was on top of the agenda for the first time. The session was urgent but lasted a record short time and had the same outcome as several previous ones. While the dismissals are urgent, the three SNSD delegates urgently head for the exit doors of the House of Peoples of BiH. The end already at the beginning.
“I call on the Serb Caucus not to participate in the work of this session, so we don’t provide an opportunity for further farce in the political life of BiH,” said SNSD’s Sredoje Novic, president of the Serb Caucus.
Spiric and Radovan Kovacevic were already on their feet. Then, together with Novic, into a new blockade. The tactic – empty chairs for secure positions. And regret over the laws is a good alibi for breaking the quorum. In justification of their moves, once again, the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure. If you ask SNSD, then the dismissals comply with neither.
“For changes, one must use their head, and the Constitution and the Rules of Procedure, not just courage. We will not provide a quorum on those items, on all others there will be a quorum,” said Spiric.
And the quorum, when it exists, brings other complications. Games without limits. Conditions and postponements at Spiric‘s pleasure. Thus, within the three days that the Rules of Procedure prescribe as the deadline to schedule a session, Spiric squeezed in almost an entire month. Not by the Rules, but politically yes – and quite a transparent move to buy time. A few more days of mandate for himself and party colleague ministers because, Spiric knows, once the dismissals reach a vote, the mandate will be over. The majority he denies is certain. And there will also be a criminal complaint being prepared by Zlatko Miletic: “That is abuse of official position, negligent performance of duty. The man, six times now, through negligent work or more precisely – through his inactivity, is driving one institution into a complete blockade.”
“This is all engineering. The request to hold this emergency session was submitted on April 24th, today is May 19th. The Rules of Procedure state that the session must be scheduled within three days. So, Chairman Spiric interprets that to mean that within three days he schedules the session whenever it suits him,” said NiP’s Kemal Ademovic two days ago, deputy chairman of the House of Peoples of BiH.
There is no more optimism. Delegates do not see a way out of this situation but are ready to accuse each other. Judging by the debate, everyone is guilty, and no one is responsible.
“The greatest blame and responsibility for all this arose two years ago when the parties of the Coalition of the Three from the Federation of BiH (FBiH) entered a coalition with SNSD and Milorad Dodik, who already had secessionist intentions,” claims delegate Dzemal Smajic (SBiH).
“At that time Milorad Dodik, after the votes were counted, had four delegates in the House of Peoples,” reminds Ademovic.
“SNSD is acting in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, this is not magic. The fact that the Coalition of the Three from the FBiHtried to prepare for the 2026 elections in order to overtake the SDA, it’s clear they fell into their own mud. The fact that they are helped by the coalition of three parties from Republika Srpska (RS), which also has no capacity, is not SNSD’s responsibility,” notes Spiric.
For the empty hall and a blocked House, no one is taking responsibility, but everyone regularly receives a salary. Several thousand BAM a month for nothing. And the accumulated problems are being passed on from their own yard to the Office of the High Represenative (OHR).
“And we’re spinning in circles. I don’t have an answer on how to proceed. So, we must wait for some higher force, which I am reluctant to hope for and am certainly not calling for, to take a step – I mean the OHR, because we know that every time the OHR got involved, the crisis was mostly not resolved but even escalated,” warns delegate Zdenko Cosic (HDZ BiH).
“The High Representative cannot change the provisions of the Constitution of BiH and that is a Dayton fact. And quorum is a constitutional provision,” said delegate Dzenan Djonlagic (DF), categorically.
Caucuses and reasons change, but only breaking the quorum remains constant. And so, it is increasingly likely, until the next elections – unless Christian Schmidt finds a way to intervene and return the designation “high” to the House of Peoples since the delegates are mostly well-paid masters of blockade and breakdown, Federalna writes.
Photo: Fena news agency
