Eldar Subašić OHR/EUSR OHR
David Fielder EUFOR
HR/EUSR calls for session of BiH Council of Ministers
The HR/EUSR deplores that no meeting of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken place since 16 October.
The HR/EUSR expects all the institutions of BIH to continue to function and calls on the CoM Chair in resignation, Nikola Spiric, urgently to convene a session of the Council of Ministers.
Crucial laws are pending before the Council of Ministers and cannot enter the parliamentary procedure without approval from the Council of Ministers.
The Law on Police Officials needs to be amended in line with the April 2007 UN Security Council decision on decertified police officers, which would allow them to re-apply to positions in police bodies.
Other pending laws concern vocational education and training, the creation of a National Fiscal Council, and establishing single criteria for salaries of employees of BiH institutions. Last but now least, the Council of Ministers must approve the Law on the Budget of the BiH institutions for 2008.
A series of Decision are also outstanding. The Council of Ministers needs to release the required funds that for the RS presidential elections on 9th December, appoint a new SIPA Director and give its approval for the Agreement on State Property.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and its institutions cannot afford the luxury of inactivity. While its chair Nikola Spiric is clearly in a technical mandate, he still has a responsibility to provide for the functioning of the Council of Ministers.
“Mr Spiric should turn up for work and do his job”, said the HR/EUSR. “Even if he disagrees with my Decisions he is still democratically accountable to the people of BiH for the running of the country, until a replacement is elected.”
“A Chair of the Council of Ministers who resigns, doesn’t show up for work, and who then complains that the International Community is running the country and ignoring him, is not only failing to do his job, but he is also betraying the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina!” concluded the HR/EUSR.
EUFOR
No statement