Yesterday, the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (NARS) did not accept the proclamation of the protection of the vital national interest in five decisions of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). This means that there will be no veto on these decisions, Klix.ba writes.
The declaration of vital national interest was not accepted:
On approving the memorandum of understanding between the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the OSCE;
On approving the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation in the field of elections between the CEC and the State Election Office of Hungary;
On the International Computer and Information Literacy Study (ICILS 2023) of students from BiH;
On approving the agreement on the participation of BiH in the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2024);
On approving the agreement on the participation of BiH in the international research of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2023).
The use of vital national interest was omitted, as there was no two-thirds majority for such a decision to be made. A minimum of 56 votes was needed to make such a decision, and the opposition did not give support.
Member of the Presidency of BiH and President of the SNSD Milorad Dodik demanded that these decisions be declared harmful to national interests, claiming that the Presidency made them without consensus. Among other things, the ruling party pointed out that the reason for declaring a vital national interest is that the condition for BiH’s participation in the mentioned research is that the RS be especially highlighted on the lists of research results, which was not the case before.
Dodik and the President of the RS, Zeljka Cvijanovic (SNSD), among others, addressed the NARS session. On that occasion, they also referred to the sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom (UK) earlier yesterday, saying that it would not harm them. The British mentioned undermining the legitimacy and functionality of BiH as the reason for sanctioning Dodik, and it was pointed out that the glorification of war criminals was the reason for sanctioning Cvijanovic.
E.Dz.
