Reform laws by the end of the summer, opening of negotiations with the Union by the end of the year. That was announced and promised. But the issue of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) could easily create a problem until the fulfillment of that. Because of it, the high representative intervened, and the United States (U.S.) expanded the blacklist. Will there be stumbling blocks on our European path?
Mostly disunited. On the European Union (EU) path, at least declaratively – united BiH politicians. Geopolitical situation, more open Union, new opportunities, old problems.
“Initiate procedures for the filling, therefore, of certain structures and the Constitutional Court itself,“ said Milorad Dodik, president of SNSD (July 24th, 2023)
“It was said there – when there is a law on the Constitutional Court, judges will be appointed accordingly,“ told Milorad Dodik, president of SNSD on July 26th, 2023.
“We will not support the appointment of a new finance minister until the process of appointing a judge of the Constitutional Court from the Republika Srpska (RS) is started,“ noted Predrag Kojovic, representative of Nasa Stranka – NS (Our Party) to the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.
In a vicious circle, he said, then denied – let’s go back to the Law on the Constitutional Court of BiH itself. Its reform is indeed one of the 14 priorities from the Opinion of the European Commission. But the devil is in the details. And they do not say that foreign judges must leave the Court.
“A law on the Constitutional Court of BiH can be passed, but that law would not regulate how many judges are elected, the manner of their election – that is a constitutional matter. But that law should regulate some issues that are now regulated by the rules of the Constitutional Court. Therefore, it would be, conditionally speaking, a procedural law”, explains Nurko Pobric, an expert in constitutional law.
Therefore, what Dodik is asking for, requires a change in the Constitution. And there is no amendment to the Constitution without two-thirds of the parliament.
“In my opinion, the Constitution should first be amended or Article 6 of the Constitution of BiH should be partially changed, to omit, so to speak, the provisions on foreign judges, and to increase the number of domestic judges by three, with the fact that two more judges from the Federation and one judge from the RS would be elected according to the current proportion,” adds Pobric.
E.Dz.
