The head of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats /SNSD/ caucus in the Bosnian parliament House of Representatives has called on the ministers from the Alliance for Change sitting in the Council of Ministers, as well as the Republika Srpska representatives and delegates in both houses of the State Parliament to take part in the work of those bodies but not to make any decision until the problem related to the common census data processing programme is resolved.
“Government at the BiH State level has once again failed an exam,” Stasa Kosarac told reporters after the House of Representatives failed to support a modified proposal of the SNSD caucus to submit, for the next session of the Council of Ministers, the information on the common census data processing programme, which was adopted by Agency for Statistics Director Velimir Jukic, with MPs from the Federation of BiH refusing to support the proposal.
Kosarac made a conclusion it was obvious that the Council of Ministers was not willing to prepare information on the census in a serious manner and in accordance with procedures.
It is inexplicable that the Council of Ministers has not demonstrated any political will yet and failed to prepare such information even though Jukic made the disputed decision on May 18, said Kosarac.
“According to the official views of the Srpska institutions and representatives in the joint BiH institutions, Jukic’s decision is illegal. We, the Republika Srpska, demand only accurate data. We don’t aspire, like the Council of Ministers does, to deceive the European Community or the EU. The SNSD will not support forged census results,” said Kosarac.
It seems, he said, the Federation is trying to destroy the census and its results, which sends a very bad message.
Kosarac is also concerned about the fact that the FBiH MPs did not accept the initiative to discuss the matter at the next, 31st session of the House of Representatives, scheduled for June 15.
“It is absolutely clear that only political actors from the Federation are competent here. The SNSD considers that unacceptable and thinks that Republika Srpska should be consulted equally,” said Kosarac.
Republika Srpska has the capacity to temporarily halt the decision-making in the BiH institutions, because it has three ministers in the Council of Ministers and chairpersons in both houses of the State Parliament, who can create the conditions through joint and harmonised action, for Jukic to retract his illegal decision as soon as possible, he said.
Republika Srpska has to make sure, like it has over the past eight years, it is an equal partner and that no decisions can be made without it at the State level.
“Unfortunately, today we have a situation where only the Federation is consulted while the views from Republika Srpska are ignored,” reiterated Kosarac.
He recalled that Srpska’s views had also been ignored during the adoption of the Reform Agenda and the coordination mechanism, and that the same was happening with the publication of the census results.
Source: SRNA
