EU Delegation and US Embassy: NSRS Conclusions Pose a Significant Threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Constitutional Order

Sarajevo, (Fena) – The European Union Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy, have strongly reaffirmed the supremacy of the Constitution and the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This statement follows a recent special session of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (NSRS).

During the session two days ago, the NSRS adopted several resolutions, including a controversial decision that all legislative proposals be reviewed first by the NSRS before being considered in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This action is deemed inconsistent with the Dayton Agreement.

According to the Dayton Peace Agreement, specifically Annex 4, Article 3, “The entities and any of their units shall fully comply with this Constitution, which supersedes incompatible provisions in the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the constitutions and laws of the entities, as well as the decisions of the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” All legislation passed by lower bodies or parliamentary entities must align with the Constitution and the rulings of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they stressed.

The embassies asserted that no entity holds the power to dispute the authority of state institutions or the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They further warned that the conclusions from the recent NSRS session pose a significant threat to the constitutional order, are anti-Dayton, and directly undermine the authority of state-level institutions and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s journey towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

At a time when the formal opening of EU accession negotiations has never been more imminent, any regression into political blockades could have detrimental effects on all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the majority of whom favor EU membership.

We, the embassies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy, alongside the European Union Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the EU Special Representative, reaffirm our commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and multiethnic character of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to the High Representative, who, according to his mandates under the Dayton Peace Agreement/Annex X, is the ultimate interpreter of its civilian aspects, they concluded.