The reform of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is a topic that always raises attention on the political scene of our country, but the real challenges for the ruling coalition are yet to come, considering that the working groups are working hard on the text that should represent the reform in this highest judicial institution.
As it was found out, the recently formed working teams established by Coalition of Three, SNSD and HDZ are already looking for solutions to two issues.
One specifically concerns the reform of the Constitutional Court of BiH, and the other concerns requests coming from SNSD and HDZ, i.e. insisting that three domestic judges replace the parties coming from the European Court of Human Rights.
Key amendments to the law on the Constitutional Court of BiH envisage that only a citizen of BiH can be elected as a judge of the Constitutional Court of BiH and that this would mean that the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH (FBiH)elects six judges, and the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NARS) elects three.
A maximum of three judges can be elected from one constituent nation of BiH.
According to the proposals, the mandate of three foreign judges would end with the completion of the procedure for the election of three domestic judges (two from the FBiH and one from the RS).
According to what SNDS and HDZ insist on, the Constitutional Court of BiH would decide by a majority vote of all judges, but which includes at least one vote of a judge from each constituent nation and from one entity when decisions are made in certain cases when BiH institutions and entities are in dispute, or entities with each other or with Brcko District and the like.
Decision-making, which is a novelty, in some proposals, is not limited to questions such as whether the decision of one entity to establish special parallel relations with a neighboring country is in accordance with the constitution, including provisions related to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH, as well as whether any provision of the constitution or law of one of the entities is in accordance with the Constitution.
It it important to note that the proposals are currently on the table of the working group, and it doesn’t mean that they will be adopted in the end, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
