Although a few days ago the name of Željka Cvijanović, the current member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was in the running to take over the office of entity president until the elections scheduled for November, the decision was made immediately before the session that it would be Ana Trišić Babić.
Advisor to Milorad Dodik, candidate for chief negotiator of BiH with the EU, previously agreed with coalition partners at the BiH level, will now also deal with technical issues when it comes to the functioning of the institution of the President of the RS.
"To us, Milorad Dodik is the elected president, but understand that there is something that is politics and a reaction to the situation," RS Prime Minister Savo Minić defended Dodik, as well as other decisions of the National Assembly.
Undoing everything
So, the National Assembly elected an acting President of the RS, even though the ruling majority "still does not recognize Christian Schmidt as the High Representative, nor the decisions of the Court of BiH", so it was difficult to come up with a meaningful explanation.
The National Assembly's actions, which will probably be remembered as the highest act of derogation and disrespect for a legislative institution, were defended by the ruling coalition's deputies, but most of all by Željka Cvijanović. Because in addition to appointing an acting president, the National Assembly annulled all laws adopted since 2023, which were "the bastion of national interests" and "the only way to defend Republika Srpska from Sarajevo". A red line, as Dodik and his comrades claimed.
The "defense" was used to try to overturn the decision of the Court of BiH several years ago, which awarded agricultural land, and thus property, to the state as the sole titleholder. The result of that defense was ultimately sanctions against RS officials. Justification for the manual withdrawal and scattering of ashes of all decisions in the last three years was even found in America.
"If in America they are reversing the harmful consequences of the Biden era, why can't we do the same in BiH? If the actions of that administration were bad for the American people, why shouldn't we say that they were bad for the Serbian people as well," Cvijanović wrote on the X platform.
In two weeks in the EU
This also invalidates the laws for which Dodik was convicted. The Law on Non-Application of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH, the Election Law of the RS, the Law on Non-Application of Laws and Prohibition of the Activities of Extra-Constitutional Institutions of BiH, the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the RS and the Law on the HJPC, and the Law on Immovable Property. A Conclusion was also adopted on the invalidation of the conclusions regarding the Information on the Collapse of the Legal Order in BiH in Violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which were adopted last year during the proceedings in the Court of BiH against Dodik.
These conclusions criticized the activities of the High Representative in BiH, demanded the annulment of the laws he imposed, and characterized judicial institutions as unconstitutional. They demanded the suspension of decision-making by Serb representatives in state institutions, and if the demands from the RS were not accepted, the decision on secession would not be taken by the party.
All that remained of the threats was a tail-wagging and the expectation that the Troika parties in Sarajevo would return to the negotiating table with the ruling coalition in RS.
"You can find more dignity and order in the market than the highest legislative body of the RS has shown. We were just waiting for the moment when this or something similar would happen. The only unknown was how this capitulation would be realized," says Banja Luka journalist Goran Dakić.
He believes that little will change in terms of logistics. "Milorad Dodik will still be pulling all the strings, but this is a message to both the foreigners and the Troika in Sarajevo that from now on we will be good and will not cause any more problems. Even if the sanctions against the political leadership are eased in all this, we will be in the EU in two weeks," Dakić said ironically.
Blue breasts
The opposition believes that repealing previously adopted laws represents the final capitulation of the current government in RS. Especially when it comes to the law on immovable property used for the functioning of public authorities, which was previously repealed by the Constitutional Court of BiH.
The President of the People's Front, Jelena Trivić, says that the property has now been handed over to the OHR.
"This marks the end of the last act of Dodik's disastrous 'blue-chested' policy, that is, the policy that while telling the people fairy tales about independence and boasting about heroes, the last elements of the sovereignty of Republika Srpska are simultaneously being handed over to foreigners," said Trivić.
For SDA MP Ramiz Salkić, annulling the laws is an unnecessary task, considering that the Constitutional Court of BiH has already annulled all of these laws.
"However, this activity is commendable, as the National Assembly found the strength to point out that what it did in the previous period was the wrong path and that it will follow a more correct path in the future," said Salkić, alluding that it was "foreigners" who advised that such a move be implemented through the National Assembly.
As for the powers of the acting president in relation to the president of the RS, the acting president cannot change the constitution or create permanent policy, does not make strategic long-term decisions, and does not appoint persons to public office. His powers are limited to technical issues, such as signing laws, scheduling sessions of the RS National Assembly, and maintaining the continuity of institutions.
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