KOMŠIĆ: BiH NATIONAL MONUMENTS COMMISSION NO LONGER FUNCTIONING DUE TO BEĆIROVIĆ'S UNLAWFUL MOVES

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 30 /SRNA/ - BiH Presidency member Željko Komšić said Bosniak member of the Presidency Denis Bećirović had, through unlawful actions, brought about a situation in which the Commission to Preserve National Monuments no longer effectively exists, adding that the issue needed to be laid bare.

"From the outset, it was clear where everything surrounding the Commission to Preserve National Monuments was heading. /Serb member of the Presidency/ Željka Cvijanović had the legal and constitutional instruments to stop it, and it was said that the course we took would leave us without a Commission. Well, that is where we are now, we have no Commission," Komšić said.

He said foreign experts from UNESCO had withdrawn from its work because they were dissatisfied with the situation created by Bećirović's unlawful appointment of members, rather than because they did not want to participate during the election campaign, as Bećirović had claimed.

"You surely do not expect people coming on behalf of UNESCO to take part in our disputes that have nothing to do with the work of the Commission and are purely political sparring. It was clear from the beginning that this would end badly. You cannot force this through, because Cvijanović has the legal and constitutional instruments to stop it," Komšić told Federation media.

Komšić noted that he had also voted for the decision, saying that otherwise Federation media would have branded him "Milorad Dodik's loyal associate" or "someone undermining BiH institutions".

He said the election campaign had been presented as the explanation, but that this was not the real reason.

"That is the explanation coming from circles that are turning a blind eye to the problem with the Commission. We saw the emails in which they clearly said: goodbye until you sort this out among yourselves. Once you do, call us," Komšić said.

Bećirović, in an attempt to place what it describes as unlawful actions within a legal framework, filed an appeal with what the source calls the incomplete BiH Constitutional Court, seeking to challenge Željka Cvijanović's veto.

With no foreign experts and no Serb member on the Commission, the article concludes that there is no consensus and that the Commission is currently not functioning.