STJEPANOVIĆ: OHR CANNOT SURVIVE

BANJA LUKA, APRIL 7 /SRNA/ - Legal representative of Republika Srpska Lazar Stjepanović pointed out that the OHR, with or without Bonn powers, cannot survive if the talk about BiH's European path continues.

"That office will have to be closed because no European country functions in that way, with such a body within itself," Stjepanović assessed.

According to him, high representatives have abused the so-called Bonn powers to the maximum in the last almost 30 years.

"When you read them, it is clear that they do not give any legal authority to the high representative that he can actually change the laws and the Constitution, and ultimately suspend that act as in the Federation of BiH," Stjepanović stated for Glas Srpske.

On the other hand, he added, Republika Srpska did not have any mechanism to resist it because they could function like that with the support of the USA, Great Britain and other Western powers.

"If we look at things from the legal side, those powers never gave high representatives the ability to change laws, and that's exactly what they did," Stjepanović said.

He pointed out that the latest statements by Republika Srpska officials call for a return to the framework of the Dayton Agreement, including Annex Ten, related to the mandate of the OHR.