prijava
SARAJEVO, August 26 (FENA) - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željko Komšić, convened an extraordinary session of the BiH Presidency for tomorrow with one item on the agenda - Proposal of the Decision on the appointment of Zoran Tegeltija as the new Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers.
The convening of the session was once again requested by the BiH Presidency member and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik.
This session was supposed to be held last week, but it was not because there was no consensus among members of the collective head of state.
Dodik said in a request to convene the session that members of the Presidency have a spoken agreement on the adjournment of the 37th extraordinary session of the Presidency with the agenda item "Appointment of the Chair of the Council of Ministers".
Dodik also referred to the signed Principles for the Formation of the Government, signed by Dodik, and leaders of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and Croat Democratic Union (HDZ) BiH, Bakir Izetbegović and Dragan Čović, on August 5, which, he claims, sets a precise deadline of 30 days for the government establishment.
The BiH Presidency Chairman and the Presidency member Željko Komšić and Šefik Džaferović remain firm at their position that they would not support the appointment of Zoran Tegeltija until the Presidency adopts the Annual National Program (ANP) and sends it to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Both Komšić and Džaferović have repeatedly stated that they have no objection to Tegeltija's appointment, and meanwhile the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) have verified Tegeltija's background cheks.
These documents have confirmed that there are no legal obstacles that could affect the appointment of Tegeltija as the Chair of the Council of Ministers, that is, that he has fulfilled all the legal requirements for the exercise of this duty.
The BiH Presidency Chairman Željko Komšić reiterated today in a statement to FENA that he would not support Tegeltija's appointment at tomorrow's session, given that Dodik has decided to block the formation of the government by disrespecting the law and rejecting to submit the ANP.
He also emphasized that Dodik is thus politically sacrificing Tegeltija as a candidate for this position.
“Unfortunately, Dodik has chosen not to respect the law and to reject the submitting of a technical document, the ANP. I have no problem with Tegeltija, but Dodik has a problem with respecting the laws and decisions of the BiH Presidency,” explains Komšić.
Komšić said in his statement that he has made it very clear that there was no chance he would vote for the chairman designate before the ANP has been submitted, emphasizing that he would act in accordance with the BiH Presidency's earlier decisions concerning NATO integration in this particular case.
Džaferović also noted that he would not change his position at the Presidency session on Tegeltija's appointment, because, without respecting all the laws and international commitments of BiH, including the sending of the ANP, no candidate for the BiH Council of Ministers Chair would receive his support.
“Therefore, if there is no submission of the ANP, there will be no candidate for the Chair of the Council of Ministers,” Džaferović pointed out earlier.
While Komšić and Džaferović remind that adopting the ANP does not mean NATO membership, Dodik continuously refers to Republika Srpska’s Declaration on Military Neutrality, a document adopted by the RS National Assembly that he claims gives him legitimacy not to agree to the documents that define BiH’s path to NATO integration.
Notwithstanding such unchanged positions of the BiH Presidency members, a session of the Presidency was scheduled for Tuesday, August 27, with only one item on the agenda - the Draft Decision on the appointment of Zoran Tegeltija as the new Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers.
(FENA) S. R.
