The leaders of the Bosnian Croat party HDZ BiH and the eight parties gathered around the SDP BiH, the People and Justice party and Our Party signed in Mostar on Friday an agreement on portfolio allocation in the government of the Bosniak-Croat shared Federation entity, and in another agreement they committed to following EU and NATO policies for faster integration.

Preconditions have been created for Federation President Lidija Bradara to sign next week a document appointing the new government which would be led by Nermin Niksic, the leader of the SDP BiH, HDZ BiH leader Dragan Covic said after the signing of the documents.

The vice presidents would also have to co-sign the appointment.

After that, a session of the House of Representatives could be convened to confirm the appointment of the government of the Federation entity within the deadline prescribed by the Constitution, he said.

HDZ BiH would receive six ministerial posts, while the prime minister and another ten ministers would be from the Bosniak-civic bloc.

However, it is quite certain that the appointment of the government will not be approved by the new Federation Vice President Refik Lendo of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), which its new partners do not want in the government.

Without Lendo's co-signature it is not possible to appoint the new government.

SDP BiH leader Nermin Niksic said, however, that he expected Lendo to honour the parliamentary majority in both chambers, the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples.

“We hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will understand that a parliamentary majority has to be honoured. We will demonstrate that we have a parliamentary majority and should be allowed to appoint the government,” said Niksic.

In case of a blockade of the appointment of the new government, he expects intervention from international High Representative Christian Schmidt.

Commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration

In the second document, which refers to the programme of the Federation government, the coalition partners from the HDZ BiH and the Bosniak-civic bloc expressed their commitment to moving closer to NATO and the European Union, announcing the implementation of policies that would lead to integration.

Asked about the announcement by the leader of the Serb-majority Republika Srpska entity, Milorad Dodik, that he is ending relations with the US and UK embassies, the leader of the HDZ BiH said that this did not oblige the State of BiH.

The government of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska on Thursday decided to stop contact with the Embassies of the United States and the United Kingdom in Bosnia and Herzegovina, accusing them of meddling in BiH's internal affairs.

The Chair of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Kristo, responded to a question about the war in Ukraine by saying that BiH followed the policy of the EU.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has joined in the condemnation of the Russian aggression, Kristo recalled.