Milorad Dodik won the most votes in the RS, and he is the legitimate representative of the RS people’s interests. If he thinks that the Presidency is making a bad decision, he will veto it and ask for the opinion of the RS National Assembly (RSNA), as is his constitutional right, RSNA Deputy Speaker Milan Petkovic said for N1 answering a question about Bosnia’s NATO accession process.
Asked if the Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik would support the activation of the Membership Action Plan, Petkovic could not say.
“RSNA was clear when it adopted the resolution on military neutrality from 2017. All RS politicians must respect it. Therefore, we must discuss and agree on everything. Should the Presidency discuss such an issue, I’m sure he will ask for the RSNA’s opinion,” he said.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a rotating tripartite Presidency with each major ethnic group and its two entities being represented. In last October’s election, the Serb-run part Republika Srpska (RS) elected Milorad Dodik, the leader of the strongest party in the RS to represent them in the Presidency, while the Federation (FBiH) entity voted for two members, Croat Zeljko Komsic and Bosniak Sefik Dzaferovic.
The Serb member said he would not support Bosnia’s NATO accession process without the support of the RSNA, and the Croat and Bosniak members responded, saying they would not vote for Zoran Tegeltija (SNSD) who was proposed by Milorad Dodik, for the new Council of Ministers’ (CoM) Chairman, because Tegentija said he would not prioritise Bosnia's NATO accession process.
This created conditions for a new crisis in the country, because Komsic and Dzaferovic see no problem in Bosnia functioning with the previous CoM convocation in the so-called ‘technical mandate.’
Bosnia is due to make its Annual National Programme (ANP), a precondition for the activation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for NATO, but with Tegeltija saying he would respect the RS’ decisions, the ANP is now brought into question.
The MAP for NATO represents the first concrete step in any country’s NATO accession process, but it does not mean a formal accession as the process lasts for several years and consists of numerous reforms, and both NATO member states and the candidate country must vote on the very accession.
“First of all, Komsic is setting some impossible conditions aimed at creating further divisions. We should first elect Tegeltija or someone else and then have the Council of Ministers vote on the MAP and other things,” RSNA Deputy Speaker said.
He also asked how the Bosniak Presidency member could know that Tegeltija would not respect the law before he was even elected.
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Sefik Dzaferovic held a press conference on Monday where he said the Presidency could not possibly vote for Tegeltija because he already said he would not respect Bosnia’s foreign policy goals. One of those goals is the MAP activation. Petkovic called this statement a pure manipulation.
“Dodik, on the other hand, never said he would block anything, but only that he would respect the will of the RS people.”
The Council of Ministers’ technical mandate would, according to Petkovic, be legal, but it would not be legitimate, because the representatives on that Council of Ministers are not legitimate as they do not have the support of the majority, after the October general election in the country.
The legal deadline for the formation of the new Council of Ministers has passed, and the SNSD proposed Zoran Tegeltina cor the CoM Chairman-elect. However, there is no indication when he might take Denis Zvizdic place as Chairman.
