- BH-Central Institutions
- The Alliance names Bozidar Matic a mandatory for the Chair of the
Council of Ministers;
- Standing Committee on Military Matters convenes again;
- Husein Zivalj - new BiH Ambassador to the UN;
- Vecernji List: Will the Constitutional Court declare the lack of
jurisdiction?;
- Ante Jelavic supports the meeting of the Croatian, Yugoslav and BiH
Presidents;
- Federation
- Independent Union of the RTV BiH workers replies to the High
Representative;
- PIO Officials claim that pensions have always been paid
retroactively;
- Croatian Parliament Delegation visits Sarajevo on Thursday;
- Republika Srpska
- Ambassador Barry meets the RS leadership;
- International community:
- High Representative takes the RTRS off the list of companies which
are to be privatized;
- Hans Jorg Kretschmer: EU will not tolerate games of the HDZ;
- Editorials:
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Central Institutions related Issues:
The Alliance names Bozidar Matic a mandatory for the Chair of the Council
of Ministers:
In a short interview with Dnevni Avaz, Bozidar Matic confirmed that he has
been unanimously chosen a mandatory for the Chair of the Council of
Ministers by the Alliance parties. He said that he is accepting his
candidacy and that he hopes that the International Community would support
the new Council in order to enable it to quickly achieves visible results.
Bozidar Matic has been the President of the BiH Academy of Arts and
Sciences and the Deputy Director of "Energoinvest" company.
Standing Committee on Military Matters convenes again:
Oslobodjenje reports that the draft of the common defense policy for BiH
is close to being completed, and that the relevant sides are still to
agree on four controversial articles in the coming weeks. Following
yesterday's session of the Standing Committee on Military Matters (SCMM),
the military advisor of the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, Jovo
Blazanovic, told the journalists that it is still not clear whether the
civilian command of the army would belong to the BiH Presidency
collectively, or its individual members. In addition, the sides could not
agree at Wednesday's session as to whether the army is to protect the
sovereignty and the integrity of the entities or of the state. The other
two controversial points concern the structure of the Federation Army (is
it comprised of two components) and the actual name of the armed forces
(Armed Forced of BiH or the Armed Forces in BiH). The working group in
charge of the policy draft should discuss the questionable articles and
submit its conclusions to the BiH Presidency in the next fifteen days.
Husein Zivalj - new BiH Ambassador to the UN:
The BiH Presidency spokesman, Boris Kujundzic, informed the press
yesterday that this body unanimously decided to appoint Husein Zivalj to
the post of the new BiH Ambassador to the UN. Zivalj has been the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH.
Vecernji List: Will the Constitutional Court declare the lack of
jurisdiction?:
In order to prevent the possible damaging consequences, writes Vecernji
List, the Constitutional Court was asked to issue a temporary measure, and
suspend the implementation of disputed Articles of the PEC Election Rules.
Vecernji List learned
from reliable sources that the Constitutional Court is going to pass a
ruling under which the said demand would be declared "unacceptable before
the BiH Constitutional Court." This way, it would seriously damage the
reputation of an unbiased body. If the Constitutional Court passes such a
decision, it will completely derogate its independence and put itself
directly in the service of politics and become dependent of the
International Community.
Ante Jelavic supports the meeting of the Croatian, Yugoslav and BiH
Presidents:
Tihomir Begic, the Media Advisor of the Croat member of the BiH
Presidency, told Republika that Ante Jelavic will support the initiative
to hold a meeting among the Croatian and Yugoslav presidents and the three
members of the BiH Presidency. "Ante Jelavic is willing to have a dialogue
with everyone if that might contribute to the prosperity and stability in
the region. It would be logical that a constant dialogue exists among the
governments which signed the DPA, so that they can find solutions for
numerous questions, even the most sensitive ones, such as the issue of the
extradition of the war criminals," said Begic, and added that if the
Summit takes place, Jelavic will expect from all participants to support
equal rights for all the peoples in the region, and show more
understanding for the fight of the Croat people to achieve an equal status
in BiH.
Federation
Independent Union of the RTV BiH workers replies to the High
Representative:
The Independent Union of the RTV BiH workers addressed one more letter to
the High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, in which its members stressed
that they support the process of restructuring of the RTV system in BiH,
but would like their suggestions and comments to be taken more seriously
by the OHR. In the statement, the Union said it has nothing against the
Radio Fern's integration into the PBS, but it could not accept this
without a prior comprehensive analysis of the package offered by this
station. The Union also accused some of the OHR officials of misinforming
the High Representative about several issues and of marking the Union as
obstructionist. Finally, the Union asked Petritsch to schedule a meeting
with its representatives in order to discuss important issues.
PIO Officials claim that pensions have always been paid retroactively:
Jutarnje Novine quotes Mirsad Salkic, the Director of the BiH PIO Board of
Directors, as saying that the pensions have always been paid retroactively
and that he sees not reason why this would have to change with the new law
on pensions fund. Commenting on the OHR's insistence that pensions are
paid in advance, i.e., not retroactively, Salkic said that this decision
has no grounds, and that it is, most likely, a product of misunderstanding
between the OHR and the PIO Fund. He added that he hopes that the two
Federation funds are to be consolidated in April, and that the PIO is
doing its best to meet the set deadlines. Salkic also said the Federation
Government will try to secure additional funds to cover its arrears,
thereby making the process of consolidation smoother.
Croatian Parliament Delegation visits Sarajevo on Thursday:
Delegation of the Croatian Parliament, which is to investigate the
position and the status of Croat people in BiH, is to arrive to Sarajevo
on Thursday. However, according to Dnevni Avaz, the BiH Ministry of
Foreign Affair and the BiH Embassy in Zagreb have not been consulted or
officially informed about this visit of Croatian Parliament officials.
Members of the delegation are scheduled to meet today with the members of
the BiH Presidency, senior officials in the OHR, and in the UN Mission to
BiH, as well as with representatives of several political parties.
This visit provoked strong reactions by certain BiH officials and
organisations. The President of the Croat National Council (not to be
confused with the Croat National Assembly!), Ivo Komsic, said that the
Croatian Parliament Delegation is not welcome, since it has been created
upon the initiative of the HDZ Croatia. "We find this delegation to be
your (HDZ Croatia) last attempt to save the losing HDZ BiH and its
politics in BiH," said Komsic, and added that the timing of this visit is
quite inopportune. "BiH has experienced positive political changes after
the November elections. It is obvious that the new Croatian government
does not, or cannot, accept these changes as a new chance for BiH and its
citizens," writes Komsic.
The leader of the delegation, Zdravko Tomac, said that the intention of
the Croatian Parliament representatives is not to interfere in the process
of the implementation of elections results in BiH. "However, we want to
clearly emphasise that insisting on the new rules for the elections of
representatives for the Federation House of Peoples will could have
disastrous consequences," said Tomac.
Republika Srpska
Ambassador Barry meets the RS leadership:
Both Federation and RS media report that the Head of the OSCE Mission to
BiH, Robert Barry, held separate meetings on Wednesday with Mladen Ivanic,
Mirko Sarovic, Mico Micic (Minister of Refugees) and Petar Kunic.
Following the meetings, Barry said that the main topics of these
discussions were the amendments to the RS Constitution aimed at its
harmonisation with the BiH Constitution, the adoption of the Election Law,
the implementation of elections results at municipality level, property
laws, as well as the reconstruction of Ferhadija mosque and other
religious buildings in the RS. Meanwhile, the Banja Luka Mufti, Edhem
Camdzic, said that the Islamic Community will begin the construction of
Ferhadija in March, regardless of the construction permit, which has not
yet been provided by Banja Luka authorities. "It has been enough waiting,"
said the Mufti, but he did not get any support from the Ambassador Barry,
who suggested to the Islamic Community to wait for the permit before it
starts with the works.
International community related issues:
High Representative takes the RTRS off the list of companies which are to
be privatized:
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, issued a decision yesterday
to remove the RTRS from the list of the RS companies which are to be
privatized. Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz in the Federation and the RS
media carried the OHR press release on this issue.
Hans Jorg Kretschmer: EU will not tolerate games of the HDZ:
During yesterday's visit to Mostar, the head of the European Commission in
BiH, Hans Jorg Kretschmer, said that the allegations that the European
Union has neglected one of the three peoples in BiH are not true. He also
said that because the economic situation in the country is so disastrous,
there is no understanding for "the games of the HDZ." "The boycott of the
state institutions or those in the Federation, the talks about the
establishment of the third entity and similar, in our views, are not in
the interest of the Croat people in BiH," said Kretschmer, and added that
the HDZ should not be identified as the sole protector of Croat interests.
He concluded, at the end, that the International Community will not
tolerate any obstruction of political processes or the creation of illegal
and parallel institutions.
Editorials:
In an editorial, Oslobodjenje's Zija Dizdarevic welcomed the recent
developments in BiH, in particular the establishment of the Citizens
Identification Protection System, the BiH Fund for Return, and the
agreement that the RS will finally participate in the BiH soccer cup.
Dizdarevic said that these development give hope for the future of BiH as
a unified state.
His colleague, Gojko Beric wrote a lengthy column on Thomas Friedman's
article published in The New York Times, and noted that certain provisions
of the Dayton Agreement simply allow Serb and Croat nationalist, as well
as the outside commentators like Fridman, to create their own ideas of
division.
Avaz columnist wrote on the difficult position of invalid war veterans in
BiH, while Jutarnje Novine's Dzavid Husic commented on the present
political situation in the FRY.
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