SESSION NOT HELD DUE TO FORMAL PROPONENTS FAILING TO RESPECT SRPSKA INSTITUTIONS’ OPINION

SARAJEVO, MARCH 27 /SRNA/ - Council of Ministers Deputy Chairman, Staša Košarac, says the regular session of the Council of Ministers was not held due to the formal proponents of the eight laws, which were supposed to be reviewed at today's session, failed to respect Republika Srpska institutions’ opinion.

"Conceptualizing the agenda without consulting the deputies /of the Council of Ministers chairman/ is a bit tactless. The 50-item conceptualized agenda included discussion of eight laws that are not acceptable from our point of view, because the formal proponents did not take the opinion of the Republika Srpska institutions into consideration. These are, first of all, the Intellectual Property Institute and the Ministry of Transport and Communications," Košarac told the press in Sarajevo.

He has reiterated that without the opinion of the competent Republika Srpska institutions, laws and other acts will not be reviewed, stating that this is also the conclusion reached by the Republika Srpska National Assembly.

"We remained committed to the implementation of the Srpska institutions’ positions as our primary movement and decision-making when it comes to joint institutions," said Košarac, who is the minister of foreign trade and economic relations in the Council of Ministers.

According to him, the "three matchbox swindler" move of the Minister of Transport and Communications, Edin Forto, who was harmonizing the law on amendments to the Law on Communications with the Republika Srpska institutions and harmonized one text, while another text of the law was on the agenda, is also worrying.

"It is a spiral of scams and we have clearly indicated that it is unacceptable. Likewise, the set of laws proposed by the Intellectual Property Institute created an expert group of the Institute employees, several experts from the EU, without consulting the institutions of Republika Srpska, FBiH, even the institutions of BiH," Košarac said.

He added that it was not reasonable to insist that such eight laws be on the agenda due to no positive opinion of the Srpska institutions on them.

Košarac believes that the remaining 42 agenda items should have been discussed, but the chairwoman of the Council of Ministers, Borjana Krišto, put the agenda with these eight laws to the vote, which was unacceptable to the Serb ministers.

He has pointed out that some kind of law or other acts should not be emphasized, without obtaining the opinion of the Republika Srpska institutions before that.

"As long as we hold the positions of ministers, we will react in the same way," concluded Košarac.