SARAJEVO – Although the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has struck down a decision allowing the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina to appoint the country’s chief negotiator with the European Union, the issue will ultimately have to be regulated by the Parliamentary Assembly, Nezavisne reported.
The Constitutional Court, ruling on a request submitted by 31 lawmakers from the National Assembly of Republika Srpska (NSRS), annulled the decision on the establishment of the office and the procedure for appointing the chief negotiator and deputy chief negotiator of BiH, which had been adopted by the House of Representatives.
According to Nezavisne, under that decision, the establishment of the office and the appointment of the chief negotiator would fall within the competence of the House of Representatives. However, the Constitutional Court noted that the decision had not been confirmed by the House of Peoples.
In RS, unlike in previous cases, officials welcomed the Constitutional Court’s ruling, stating that any future decision on the matter must receive support from both the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples. They said that this represents a guarantee that any decision will not be detrimental to Serbs and Republika Srpska.
“We must be aware that a political agreement is necessary and that Sarajevo should accept that this position belongs to Republika Srpska and the Serb people. When it comes to European integration, RS currently hold no position – they do not have either the minister of foreign affairs, nor the director of the Directorate for European Integration”, Srđan Mazalica, initiator of the constitutional review request, from SNSD said.
The establishment of the office and the appointment of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s chief negotiator with the EU is one of the country’s key conditions for launching accession negotiations. Without an office and a chief negotiator, it is practically impossible to secure a date for the start of negotiations, and the issue has been debated within Bosnia and Herzegovina for more than a year.
Under existing rules and political agreements, the chief negotiator is expected to be a Serb, and the dispute emerged at the moment the appointment process began. The SNSD and HDZ insist that the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina should handle the appointment, while parties of the so-called “Trojka”(SDP, NIP, NS) oppose this, primarily objecting to the fact that the nominee would likely come from the SNSD.
“Therefore, a decision adopted by only one chamber of the legislative body, under the competencies defined by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, does not constitute a decision of the Parliamentary Assembly. Accordingly, such a decision cannot produce legal effect, as it is not in accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Constitutional Court ordered the Parliamentary Assembly, within six months from the delivery of the decision, to regulate, in line with its authorities, the procedure for appointing the chief negotiator and deputy chief negotiator for conducting accession negotiations with the European Union, as well as the establishment of the office of the chief negotiator and deputy chief negotiator,” the Constitutional Court said.
In an attempt to prevent this outcome, parties of the Trojka, together with opposition parties from Republika Srpska, proposed a decision under which the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly would appoint the chief negotiator.
The decision was adopted in the House of Representatives, but lawmakers from the SNSD and HDZ voted against it, arguing from the outset that the move was unconstitutional and that the chief negotiator could not be appointed in that manner.
