The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, will address a session of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly on Tuesday, 16 July. He will also address the RSNA, on 26 July, and the Federation Parliament, on 30 July. This is part of the High Representative’s policy of working through the institutions of this country where possible.
The High Representative will urge the parliamentarians to pass the legislation before them which will help strengthen the criminal justice system and will generate employment for the people of BiH.
When the High Representative first addressed the Parliamentary Assembly — on the same day that he took up his duties in BiH — he defined his priorities as “first justice, then jobs, through reform.” On Tuesday he will expand on this theme.
Corruption and organised crime have impoverished hundreds of thousands of BiH citizens and made a handful of criminals and dishonest bureaucrats and politicians rich. The High Representative will urge parliamentarians to put an end to this scandal by passing the legislation which is needed in order to establish Special Chambers in the Court of BiH, to deal with Organised Crime, and Economic Crime and Corruption. Last month, the High Representative began the process of creating these special chambers.
If new businesses are to start up and existing businesses are to expand, the consolidation of the Single Economic Space in BiH cannot be delayed any longer. The High Representative will call on parliamentarians to abandon the obstructionist tactics that have delayed necessary economic legislation and deprived citizens of employment for the sake of short-term political self-interest. In addition he will call for swift passage of a package of legislation, covering agriculture, utilities, and business regulation.