Four months without a clear line of demarcation between the government and the opposition in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ruling state coalition has not officially collapsed, and a new one has not been formed. Both are being stopped by the HDZ BiH. The SNSD is keeping the opposition from the RS in power, keeping it on hold. Since the reconstruction of the government, apart from a platform with the signatures of ten parties without a parliamentary majority – nothing.
Vukanović: An agreement has been made.
Čović: It offers the opportunity to advance this cooperation to a higher level.
Promised in Kupres, changed in Mostar, cheated in state institutions. Two months later – no agreement, no law, and no new coalition. The only change is in the positions of the indecisive Čović with the deciding vote. Negative for the opposition from the RS. There is no partnership, but the conditions are waiting.
“We need their capacity to make decisions. They don’t have it. On the 29th, we will have the next, urgent session, where there will be two European laws and the Election Law. Let them support it and we will have everything resolved,” said Čović.
Although the HDZ BiH was not present in the full hall, on the platform with the signatures of ten parties, the leaders of the RS opposition were surprised. They responded with a lesson in parliamentary mathematics. There is enough capacity to make decisions. So it seems that the numbers are just a cover for the real intentions of the HDZ BiH.
“Dragan Čović is looking for an alibi for his service to the interests of Milorad Dodik. Now it is clear to everyone that Dragan Čović is Milorad Dodik’s strategic partner, that Dodik is being protected as a vital national Croatian interest in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Nebojša Vukanović, president of the Justice and Order List.
“If it doesn’t work with the opposition, the key question is whether it will work with the SNSD. They have been together for so long, for years, and we can say for decades, and the original issue of the Election Law as the HDZ wants to regulate it has not been resolved – neither with the SNSD, nor with numerous political parties from among the Bosniak people. A kind of correctness has been shown on our part,” pointed out Branislav Borenović, a PDP representative in the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Troika in the Federation was also surprised. Since the beginning of the attempt to reconstruct the government, they have been counting on Čović. However, from the expectations, they currently have only one platform with the other Troika, which without the HDZ is just a piece of paper.
“That they will not go further with the opposition from the RS is actually a sentence that they will stay with Milorad Dodik. Here, we will wait, as they say in the Millionaires, for Dragan Čović’s final answer and then we will take an appropriate stance towards him,” says Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (NiP).
The House of Peoples has already set itself up. Scheduled sessions with the laws served as a condition for the opposition from the RS, Čović, it seems, will not get. Another futile round for the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Given that Mr. Čović broke the agreement with Kupres, where we promised to help with the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and now he does not want a partnership with us, at this moment I am really not sure how we will vote,” says Želimir Nešković, a delegate in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDS).
There is no majority for the Election Law, but even before the vote, the united opposition’s demand for rotating items is more certain: dismissals first, and then laws.
“There are eight of us who insist that things be ordered properly at the House session. And according to the Rules of Procedure, these are dismissals, first of all, of Špirić, and then of ministers from the SNSD,” emphasized Šefik Džaferović, president of the Bosniak Club in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SDA).
This means a blockade in the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The only question is who will break the quorum first: the SNSD to prevent dismissals or the Bosniak Club out of revolt over the violation of the Rules of Procedure? Empty seats are certain. Just like there is one in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina because Borjana Krišto refuses to appoint Nebojša Vukanović as Minister of Security.
“When that appointment comes, I will enter the Council of Ministers with absolutely no weight on my feet and many things will not be the same. This is what both Čović and Dodik are afraid of and why they are fighting so hard and opposing my appointment,” Vukanović concluded.
Without one minister, with one platform, a strong connection between HDZ and SNSD, the new coalition has no future, and the crisis is endless. The status quo with a long list of problems that ultimately boils down to three letters – OHR. Where are the solutions when it is not in Parliament?
