The US Embassy and the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina reacted in separate statements to the latest developments in Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-majority entity, whose authorities decided to ban publication of international peace envoy's decisions in its Official Gazette and announced a plan to stop implementing the decisions of Bosnia's Constitutional Court on the entity's territory.

The recent vote in the Republika Srpska (RS) entity parliament, to prevent publication of the High Representative’s decisions in the RS Official Gazette is “unconstitutional and without legal merit,” the EU Delegation said, adding that “any law that would render Constitutional Court decisions inapplicable in Republika Srpska would similarly be unconstitutional and without legal merit.”

“The decision to grant EU candidate status to BiH was made on the understanding that specific steps are taken, in particular to strengthen the rule of law. The integrity of the Constitutional Court of BiH, as the highest judicial authority in BiH, should be protected and its decisions respected on all counts. Any pressure on the Constitutional Court is unacceptable,” the EU's office in Sarajevo said in response.

It also reiterated EU's call for the entity parliaments to swiftly appoint the vacant judges to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to ensure the Court’s unimpeded functioning.

“Solutions that would preserve institutional functionality need to be worked on urgently,” the embassy said.

US Embassy joined the criticism, stressing that no political rhetoric or change of entity laws can annull the obligations of the signatories of the Dayton Agreement, including Republika Srpska entity.

“The United States strongly supports the competencies of the High Representative, as wella s sovereignty, territorial integrity and multi-ethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the embassy told N1.

The reactions come days after the president of Republika Srpska entity Milorad Dodik set a deadline to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to annul its latest decision which regulates the postponement of its sessions i.e. annuls such a possibility, threatening that authorities of the Serb-majority region would pass a law on non-implementation of the state-level court's decision on this entity's territory.

Dodik's ‘deadline’ to BiH Constitutional Court expires

A day later, the entity parliament passed law changes banning the publication of the High Representative's decisions in RS Official Gazette.