News

Bosnian Prosecutor Denies Eavesdropping Claim

Mar 06 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Bosnia's State Prosecutor has denied claims made by a judge that it eavesdrops and works to an agenda set by the country's Bosniak political parties.

Bosnia's Prosecutor's Office has denied eavesdropping and rebuffed claims that it works unde the influence of the country's main Bosniak parties.

“It is sad that some judicial officials, even judges... join in media attacks on institutions,” the Prosecutor said on Wednesday. 

Croatian Ex-President Urges New 'Dayton' For Bosnia

Mar 06 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Former Croatian president Stjepan Mesic is to advocate a new international conference on Bosnia, so that the country can become a 'citizens's state divided into several multi-ethnic cantons'.

The former Croatian President on Friday is to propose a new Dayton-style agreement on Bosnia in Mostar, where he is due to deliver a speech.

Mesic's proposal involves Croatia initiating the main changes to the 1995 Dayton Ohio deal, which ended Bosnia's 1992-5 war.

Bosnian Croat Leader Urges Three-Unit Federation

Mar 05 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
Balkaninsight

Amid talk of a third, Croat entity in Bosnia, a Bosnian Croat leader has said that another solution would be reorganising the current Federation entity, with its 10 cantons, into three larger units.

Dragan Covic, head of the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, the largest Croat party in Bosnia, said that the Federation entity should be reorganised into three units, which he said would strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina and prevent its disintegration. 

Sarajevo Accepts Protesters’ ‘Expert Government’ Demand

Feb 24 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

The cantonal assembly in the Bosnian capital has accepted demands from a ‘citizens’ plenum’ to form a government of experts and to take action to limit officials’ financial privileges.

 

The assembly's lawmakers on Monday agreed the proposal put forward by the Sarajevo plenum, one of several public forums set up by protesters across the country to advance political demands arising from the recent nationwide demonstrations.

Bosnia Police Agencies Trade Blame Over Violence

Feb 21 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
Balkaninsight

 

Bosnia's State Investigative and Protection Agency, SIPA, said that it was not authorized to maintain peace and security in the streets, as this was the job of the entity and cantonal police structures.

Responding to claims that it did not react to the violent unrest on February 7, SIPA said the Presidency and other institutions were supposed to be guarded by the relevant police agencies.

Fule Blames Bosnian Leaders for Rights Logjam

Feb 18 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

After a nine-hour meeting on the vexed Sejdic-Finci ruling ended without result, the EU Enlargement Commissioner blamed the impasse on Bosnian party leaders.

The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Stefan Fule, blamed leaders of Bosnia's seven main parties for the failure of yet another meeting on how to implement a 2009 Strasbourg court ruling.

The European Court of Human Rights has obliged Bosnia to change its constitution to enable ethnic minorities to run for top governing posts currently reserved to candidates of the three largest ethnic groups, Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.

Bosnia Croat Parties Unite Before Elections

Feb 04 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Several Bosnian Croatian parties have decided to run together in the October general elections so as to best protect the community's interests.

The Croatian People's Assembly - a Bosnian Croat umbrella group - has said that most Croatian parties will go into the general elections in October together, in order to protect the best interests of the community. 

Bozo Ljubic, head of the Croatian People's Assembly, also said on Monday that the member parties would not form any "illegitimate" coalitions following the elections. 

Bosniaks Accused of Boycotting Bosnian Parliament

Jan 27 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Sulejman Tihic and Nermina Kapetanovic of the Party of Democratic Action and Hasan Becirovic of the Social Democratic Party, all delegates to the Bosniak caucus in the state-level Bosnian parliament, did not attend the session on Friday, saying they were sick.

Their absence meant that a quorum could not be raised and the session was cancelled.

Bosnia Changes Law to Call 2014 Elections

Jan 24 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Bosnian MPs adopted changes to the law on January 23, enabling the Central Electoral Commission to call nationwide October elections.

The Electoral Commission has said it is aiming for elections to take place on October 12. It plans to call the elections in May. 

“There are no more legal obstacles to call the 2014 general elections,” spokesperson Maksida Piric said, noting: “We have to call the elections 150 days before polling day.”

Bosnia Federation MP Seeks President's Dismissal

Jan 17 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Stanko Primorac, a lawmaker from the Croatian Party of Rights, HSP, on January 16 asked  parliamentarians to vote to dismiss Zivko Budimir, President of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Primorac submitted the request for the House of Representatives to discuss the dismissal at their next session dedicated to choosing a speaker after Fehim Skaljic recently resigned.

Primorac said he based the demand on Budimir's "violation of the constitution and of the law and bringing the Federation into financial and political collapse”.

Bosnia Federation President Sacks Finance Minister

Jan 06 2014
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Budimir sacked Krajina on Friday over a complaint by several Croat war veterans’ organisations which said that their members had not received their pensions, but the president was quickly accused of forcing him out for political reasons.

After the dismissal of Krajina, a Croat, there are now not enough Croats in the Federation entity government for it to function properly.

Budimir has also demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nermin Niksic so that the whole entity government can be replaced.

Bosnian Serb MPs Stage Protest Boycott

Dec 09 2013
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

The opposition MPs staged a symbolic protest on Sunday by gathering all the assembly's microphones and handing them over to the speaker, Igor Radojicic, before they boycotted the day's session, media reported from Banja Luka.

They claimed that emergency procedures had been improperly used on Saturday to adopt the entity’s budget for 2014 urgently, in time to meet a Monday deadline imposed by the International Monetary Fund.

Lawmakers from the opposition Serb Democratic Party, the Party of Democratic Progress and the People's Democratic Movement took part in the boycott.

Old debts force up Bosnia Federation Budget

Nov 25 2013
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

The government of Bosnia's Federation entity has presented the entity's draft budget for 2014, saying it is nearly double this year's budget in size, as it has to include paying off old loans.

The entity has to repay around half a billion euro in these loans. The authorities hope a new tranche from an IMF stand-by will bridge the chasm.

But to get another IMF financial injection, the entity government first has to adopt a budget for next year on time.

Bosnian Serb Chief Says Country Should Split

Nov 20 2013
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia, has said it would be the best for Bosnia and Herzegovina to split it into two.

Speaking in Belgrade on Wednesday to law students, he said that Republika Srpska already has all the elements of a state in terms of the number of citizens, its size, competences and independent relations to other countries. 

“It would be best if Republika Srpska was a state”, Dodik said, adding: “It will happen one day, we just have to have patience.”

Bosnian Census ‘Confirms Ethnic Cleansing of Croats’

Nov 08 2013
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
BalkanInsight

Bosnians are still awaiting the full results of the country's first census since the war, and while many think that discovering the truth about contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina will be a positive step, others like Bishop Franjo Komarica believe that it will reveal that the impact of the ethnic cleansing during the 1992-95 conflict was even worse than previously thought.

Analysts question new transfer of authority law

May 08 2013
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Source: 
Setimes

An amendment to the conflict of interest law in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) transfers authority in the cases to a parliament commission, a change that analysts and NGOs say could open the political sector up to corruption.

Currently, the Central Elections Commission is the authority in determining officials' involvement in conflict of interest.

The amendments have been passed by the state government, but need to be overturned by parliament, analysts said.

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