AMIDŽIĆ: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY CONDITIONS

SARAJEVO, December 8 /SRNA/ - The Minister of Finance and Treasury in the Council of Ministers Srđan Amidžić, stated that Republika Srpska will never accept any form of conditioning, from anyone, and that it is especially unacceptable to enter a phase of political conditioning that would lead to a blockade of the functioning of the Council of Ministers.

"When we talk about today's session of the Council of Ministers, almost 40 items were placed on the agenda and were supposed to be decided on, and then you see the following approach: if these two or three items that we proposed are not discussed, then we will not discuss any other important issues on which there is consensus," Amidžić told reporters in Sarajevo.

He emphasized that this illustrates the lack of normal political functioning in BiH, noting that normality requires making decisions on items for which agreement already exists.

Amidžić also pointed out that, regardless of the outcome of today's vote, the Minister of Defense, Zukan Helez, did not agree with the items related to the establishment of the Office of the Chief Negotiator of BiH with the EU or the item concerning the draft Law on the Court of BiH.

According to him, Helez used the opportunity during the vote "to avoid carrying that burden."

"Why he does not stand firmly behind his political positions is known to him, probably. Meanwhile, my colleague Staša Košarac, the Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, and I clearly stated that these are items that have not been harmonized and therefore cannot be discussed. It is unacceptable for anyone to impose conditions on us," Amidžić said.

He noted that there are 32 open issues within the Council of Ministers on which decisions could have been made today, just as has been done before.

He added that it is not unusual for a member of the Collegium to state that a particular item does not have consensus and therefore cannot be considered, while other items proceed as normal.

"And now we reach the point of setting conditions. That would be the same as if we, from the Serb side, said that at the next session the first item on the agenda must be the Law on the Constitutional Court, under which foreign judges would no longer sit on the Court - which is one of the European standards - and if that item is not included, then we will not consider any other item on the agenda," Amidžić explained.

He stressed that such an approach is harmful because a policy built on political conditioning never produces results.

Speaking about the Reform Agenda, Amidžić said that all countries progress on the European path sometimes more quickly, sometimes more slowly, and that such development is normal - but that each people must retain the right to protect issues that constitute their vital national interest.

Amidžić called on all relevant actors to "unblock" the work of the Council of Ministers and appealed to those responsible not to obstruct its functioning, but instead to open dialogue on issues where general consensus can be achieved.

The Council of Ministers did not adopt the proposed agenda today. Among the items that were not taken up were: the draft decision on establishing the Office of the Chief Negotiator of BiH with the EU; the draft Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council; and the draft amendments to the Law on the Court of BiH.