Bosnia’s Council of Ministers (CoM) adopted the Draft Law on Foreigners at its Wednesday session, while the Draft Law on the Courts and the Draft Law on the Organization of the Wine Market in BiH were rejected.

CoM Chair Borjana Kristo said they discussed laws concerning Bosnia’s EU integration path during the session, including decisions on personnel solutions, agreements, various reports and information.

“We didn’t vote on the Draft Law on the Courts of BiH or the Draft Law on the Organization of the Wine Market in BiH. Despite these laws being already agreed on at the political level, we didn’t come to an agreement because certain disagreements appeared before the session itself, perhaps on a technical level, and some religious issues related to certain rights also were raised,” Kristo said.

She noted that the objections to both drafts will be harmonized over the next couple of days so that by the end of the week the texts of both drafts will be ready and sent to the BiH Parliament.

Speaking about the Draft Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest in BiH Institutions, Kristo said that the ministers agreed that there are shortcomings preventing it from being implemented systematically and to function well.

Bosnia’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said the session was very productive and particularly noted the importance of the adopted Draft Law on Foreigners.

He said that discussing the Draft Law on Courts, the ministers had additional consultations, and the problem was related to religious symbols.

He explained that, according to the interpretation of the Draft, female Muslim judges wearing the hijab, for example, in some disputed interpretation, could not be judges or hold judicial functions. Therefore, that Draft was sent back for revision.