The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the Draft Law on State Property. The bill was included in the agenda of the session at the request of the chairman, Denis Bećirović, and the member of the Presidency, Željko Komšić, who voted in favor. Serbian member of the Presidency Željka Cvijanović was against it. The bill will be sent for further procedure, that is, to the House of Representatives. Attempts to solve the issue of state property have been accompanied by the same political disagreements for years, as they are today.
The draft law on state property was adopted by overvoting, with two votes in favor and one against. Serbian member of the Presidency Željka Cvijanović stated that nothing in Bosnia and Herzegovina has ever been resolved by overvoting, and it will not be resolved now either. She also pointed out that the Presidency cannot be an authorized proposer of laws on state property, because in accordance with the Constitution, it can only propose laws within its jurisdiction. In any case, this law will not pass, said Cvijanović.
ŽELJKA CVIJANOVIĆ, member of the BiH Presidency:
“Exactly one year ago, we had the same situation. It related to the Law on Gas. The decision was also reached by overvoting. The law was sent to the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was rejected by the Collegium of the House of Representatives. The Parliamentary Assembly did not deal with it at all. I estimate that the same fate awaits precisely this law”.
For politicians from Republika Srpska, both those in power and those in the opposition, state property is a red line that must not be crossed.
SANJA VULIĆ, representative in the House of Representatives of the PSBiH:
“The topic of property is absolutely superfluous in any institution, bearing in mind that property is clearly defined by the Dayton Peace Agreement, that is, by the General Framework Agreement for Peace in BiH. It is clearly and decisively stated that property belongs to the entities”.
MLADEN BOSIC, representative in the House of Representatives of the PSBiH:
“The National Assembly will block it and that law will fail, as well as many laws that are proposed only to enter the procedure at the expense of some populist points, and everyone knows in advance that it is doomed to failure and will not pass.”
On the other hand, politicians from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, both the opposition and the government, welcome the adoption of the Law on State Property. They are aware that it is impossible for this law to pass in the state Parliament.
ELMEDIN KONAKOVIĆ, president of NIP:
“In bicameral decision-making in the House of Representatives, it is possible to create a parliamentary majority. In the House of Peoples, unfortunately, due to the blockade and the position of all the representatives from the BiH entity RS, I do not know how the HDZ would be positioned, it is difficult to expect an epilogue that would mean the adoption of a very quality document, because the Dayton BiH enables those who are not in favor of such solutions”.
SERIF ŠPAGO, representative in the House of Representatives of the PSBiH:
“It is difficult to expect that it can pass, but here I am saying that we have some document on which, I assume, experts from the field worked, which can be used in the coming period for further discussions, negotiations to reach a solution to pass a law on the state in the Parliamentary Assembly property that will benefit everyone – both state institutions and, of course, lower levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
Like politicians and lawyers, depending on which entity they are from, they have a completely different view and interpretation of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina when it comes to state property.
ŠUKRIJA BAKŠIĆ, professor of constitutional law:
“It is clear everywhere in the world that public ownership of property, primarily real estate, belongs to the state. So all the issues that arise here are purely politicking. Simply, there are no controversial issues from the point of view of legal science or legal theory.”
MILE DMIČIĆ, professor of constitutional law:
“Under the guise of more efficient functioning of the state, the authority of the entity is being reduced by transferring it to the state level, and we are talking about areas of fundamental interest for the status of the entity”.
For almost three decades, the issue of state property has been a reason for raising political tensions.
Political representatives from Republika Srpska oppose the adoption of a law on state property. Four times they tried to pass an entity law, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the OHR.
The High Representative has announced on several occasions that, if the state parliamentarians do not adopt the law on state property, he will do so using the Bonn powers.
The President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that, if the OHR imposes the law, he will convene a session of the National Assembly at which the Republika Srpska will declare secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to BHRT.
