My motive for harmonizing my positions with the other two members of the Board at the last session was European laws (on the HJPC and the Court of BiH), especially due to the fact that the draft laws that were put into procedure in the House of Representatives were sent without any consultations with the profession, “out of the blue”, and there were not even coalition or party consultations. Therefore, the profession, as the most interested party in this process, given that its representatives are implementing these laws, said that the proposals are bad, which they publicly confirmed at a press conference, explaining why they are bad, points out in an interview with Fena, the Chairman of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Kemal Ademović.
He points out that the Draft Law on the Court of BiH did not even pass the Constitutional and Legal Commission, which also speaks volumes.
-The transitional provisions do not provide for the continuity of judges of the Appellate Division, which may lead to a blockage of the work of the Court. The proposal envisages the seat being in Pale. The draft law of the Ministry of Justice, which we updated and launched in the House of Peoples, and in whose preparation the profession participated through working groups, does not mention, for example, a change of seat, so the Court is not moving to Pale, and provisions on continuity are also included – that the current judges continue to work until the election of new ones, so that there is no vacuum – which prevents the blockage of the work of the Court. Therefore, serious, harmful omissions in the proposals of the House of Representatives have led to the necessity of a reaction, Ademović explains the situation related to the previous session of the House of Peoples and the coordination with the remaining members of the Collegium who had outvoted him in previous cases.
He says that the majority in the House of Peoples has not been there for a long time. It, he emphasizes, has occasionally appeared through eight delegates from seven parties who, following the policies of the Troika coalition, tried to remove Nikola Špirić from the position of a member of the Collegium of the House.
-That did not work because every time, at every session where the point of dismissal of SNSD personnel was raised, they or the HDZ delegates would deny the quorum. Then the session would be interrupted, and there were more than ten such sessions in the past few months of Špirić’s chairmanship, and after his and during my chairmanship, for this reason, the House of Peoples has been in a kind of blockade for a long time, and more than 30 laws are pending. The previous session, which included one session and one continuation, was successfully completed precisely because there were no points that provided for dismissal. Therefore, attempts to dismiss Špirić were stopped by breaking the quorum and thus by blocking the House, Ademović points out.
Responding to the question of whether the Troika broke up the coalition with SNSD and HDZ and whether they were part of the so-called new “Eight” in the House of Peoples that excluded SNSD and HDZ, and whether you still belong to that Eight, Ademović says that this group consists of seven parties, that each of them has its own interests and different views and most of them do not really like the successes of the current government, no matter how undefined and unstable it may be.
– Everyone from their position, or the opposition, positions themselves in accordance with their policies and has demands and views on priorities, what should and should not be considered. Similarly, they have different views on two European laws, and there are even some exclusive views that they should not even be considered. The best example is the Draft Law on the Electricity Regulator, where HDZ, SDA and SNSD were of the opinion that the law that was already in the procedure in the House of Peoples should be considered in a summary procedure, while some delegates advocated the position that the law that was adopted by the House of Representatives with two amendments, but did not submit it to the House of Peoples in the official procedure, should be considered. I announced that I would propose its inclusion if one of the delegates did not do so, and then delegates Smajić and Miletić proposed its inclusion. So, from question to question, from point to point, positions are taken, so it is difficult to talk about a coordinated majority with consistent positions in continuity, says the Speaker of the House of Peoples.
He explains that his warnings that he would take certain “measures” were directed at delegate Želimir Nešković, who did not respect the provisions of the Rules of Procedure or behave in accordance with them. This, he says, is the procedural right of the person leading the session, and these provisions are contained in Article 69 of the Rules of Procedure and are precisely listed.
Commenting on the fact that in the aforementioned coordination with Nikola Špirić and Dragan Čović on these two European laws, some media found a link to the claim that he is returning to a coalition with the SNSD and HDZ, although the Troika explicitly distanced itself from that coalition, especially with the SNSD, Ademović reminds that the foundation of the coalition in power established after the last elections was the European path.
-When we established power at the beginning of 2023, the foundation of the new coalition was the European path, because it is a strategic path for BiH around which there is a general consensus of all political actors, both the government and the opposition. Although the coalition is not functioning, those who mean well for this country are trying to make a step forward on that path. I adhere to that direction, while at the same time not allowing for a single moment that a law, just because it is “European” in its name, would contain something in its content that would be detrimental to the state. Therefore, an attempt to make a step forward on the European path and at the same time prevent or correct harmful legal content is not a basis for concluding about any coalition. How then do we explain the work of the Council of Ministers and the joint voting of the Troika, SNSD and HDZ ministers, and not only on the issue of “European” points? I believe that some other recent votes in the Council of Ministers, especially on the appointment of certain SNSD personnel, or the non-voting for the dismissal of Marinko Čavara in the House of Representatives, have remained insufficiently explained to the public in the context of the coalition and political cooperation of the Troika with the SNSD and HDZ. That is why I consider these attempts to connect me with the SNSD and HDZ to be a substitution of theses, with a deeper background, concludes the Speaker of the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliament, Kemal Ademović.
