No agreement in RS Council of Peoples on RSNA declaration on OHR, delegates receive CC RS document

Chairman of the Bosniak Caucus in the Council of Peoples Alija Tabakovic told FENA that in previous similar cases, the Constitutional Court of the RS had not considered resolutions and declarations, arguing that they do not produce legal effect.

He added, however, that this morning, ahead of the Council session, members were provided with a document from the Constitutional Court of the RS concerning the activities of the OHR, which, in his view, indicates a possible change in approach.

Tabakovic said that the document states that the OHR’s activities are “unconstitutional,” and assessed that the Court is thereby exceeding its jurisdiction, stressing that such matters fall under the competence of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The Constitutional Court of the RS must be above politics and assess constitutionality, not act as support for decisions of the National Assembly of RS,” Tabakovic said.

Speaking about the Declaration itself, he said it cannot produce a legal effect and assessed that it is a political document which, as he stated, also has an electoral character, while at the same time sending political messages about future actions.

Tabakovic added that such initiatives in fact express a stance on the Office of the High Representative, and believes this also calls the Dayton Peace Agreement into question.

“The Office of the High Representative can only be closed after the conditions of the ‘5+2’ agenda are fulfilled, as well as with the consent of the relevant parties in BiH,” he said.

He recalled that the mechanism for the protection of vital national interest was triggered only by the Bosniak Caucus.

“The Croat Caucus has, in the past eight years, triggered that mechanism only twice, as far as I recall. Recently, they did so regarding the Declaration on Ustasha symbols and earlier concerning the Law on the Use of the Cyrillic Script. They supported all other decisions of the National Assembly of the RS,” Tabakovic concluded.