The National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS), at its session on Wednesday, September 14th, did not confirm the veto initiated by the member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Milorad Dodik, on the granting of an agrement to the new German ambassador to BiH.
After the lack of support for Dodik’s veto, the earlier decision of the Presidency of BiH, which is in charge of foreign policy, comes into force, granting approval to the German ambassador to BiH.
To adopt Dodik’s veto, the votes of two-thirds of the representatives of the NARS were needed. However, of the 53 deputies who were recorded during the statement, 46 voted and all of them “abstained”. Among those with abstained votes there were deputies from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), whose leader is Milorad Dodik.
Instead of supporting Dodik’s veto, the entity deputies adopted a conclusion by which the NARS “gives approval to the German ambassador to BiH“.
During the discussion of the NARS, which preceded the vote, opinions could be heard that we should not “open some kind of political war with the German parliament, but that we should show character and reject the July Resolution of the German Bundestag”.
Warnings could also be heard that the veto could bring economic consequences to the RS, considering that Germany is an important economic partner of BiH.
The debate in the NARS followed after Dodik raised the vital interest of the RS in the BiH Presidency on September 2nd, due to the granting of an agrement to the new German ambassador to BiH.
Addressing the members of the NARS, Dodik reiterated on Wednesday that Germany’s foreign policy is aimed at “anti-Dayton and anti-constitutional actions”, emphasizing that this was additionally confirmed by the Resolution adopted by the German Bundestag in July this year.
Debate on the veto without opposition
The leading opposition parties in the RS Assembly did not participate in the session of the National Assembly.
The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) and the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP), opposition parties in the RS, previously announced that their deputies would not attend the session. This was announced at an extraordinary press conference by the presidents of the SDS, Mirko Sarovic, and the PDP, Branislav Borenovic, after the meeting of the leaders of the two parties, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
