KARAN: ONCE YOU DESTROY MECHANISMS PROTECTING SOVEREIGNTY, PEOPLES AND ENTITIES, YOU DESTROY BOTH REPUBLIKA SRPSKA AND BiH

BANJA LUKA, MAY 14 /SRNA/ - Constitutional law professor Siniša Karan has told SRNA today that had those who fought for the creation of Republika Srpska known in Dayton in 1995 that, 30 years later, some in the National Assembly would vote against a vital national entity protection-related interest, the state union of BiH would never have been formed.

"Serbs, Croats, even Bosniaks - although it would turn out to be under false pretenses - agreed to enter such a state. Everyone consented to forming a state based on the principle that no nation would dominate another, and that each nation would always have the absolute right to protect its national and political identity," Karan explained.

He emphasized that this agreement, established through mechanisms of protection, was the foundation for BiHs existence.

He repeated that the National Assembly is the ultimate authority because it consists of representatives of Republika Srpska and the Serb people who express people's will and protect it, especially through the defence of vital national interests.

"In 1995, the Dayton Peace Agreement established the creation of a state union, but it also ensured that no institution could allow for one people or entity to outvote another, and that what the entities brought into BiH could never be destroyed. That is the essence of a federal state. That is why the constitutional structure includes parity /1:3/ and why no decision can be made in a way that allows one people to outvote another. If such a decision is technically pushed through, there is protection of the vital national interest by the two holders of sovereignty: the peoples and the entities," Professor Karan pointed out.

Therefore, he added, in the Presidency of BiH, the Serb member protects the entity's national interest, the Council of Ministers cannot make a final decision without the vote of Republika Srpska ministers. There can be no outvoting in the House of Peoples, because there is a mechanism protecting peoples' national interest, and there is a protection mechanism in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly through entity voting.

"We must be clear that the greatest enemies of Republika Srpska and the Dayton-based BiH are those who undermine the capacity of any people to protect their national interest and political identity.

Anyone who violates these principles on which the state union is based is automatically undermining the Dayton-based BiH and is directly against the statehood status of Republika Srpska, which it brought into BiH," warned Karan.

He emphasized that the issue of protecting vital national interest is of constitutional and legal nature, which confirms the importance and necessity of Republika Srpska's fight for the letter of the Dayton Accords, because as he says, we are fighting for federal instruments that will prevent any decision that harms the Serb people, but also other peoples, who have the same protection mechanisms at their disposal.

Karan also pointed out that it should be recognised and understood that Serbs who vote in the Republika Srpska National Assembly against a vital national interest are voting against Republika Srpska.

"That undermines both Republika Srpska and the ability of the Serb people to preserve their national and political being. It undermines the Serb people's ability to prevent being outvoted, but also weakens the Dayton-based BiH. We are obligated to our people to use all capacities, in accordance with the Constitution and laws, to defend Republika Srpska and the Dayton-based BiH," Karan concluded.