DAKIĆ: SRPSKA EXERCISES ITS DEMOCRATIC CAPACITY WITH NEW CONSTITUTION

EAST SARAJEVO, MARCH 31 /SRNA/ - Dragan Dakić, a member of the Working Group for developing a new constitution of Republika Srpska, said that through this process, Srpska is exercising its democratic capacity to act within its competences prescribed by the Dayton.

Dakić, who is participating in the first public debate on the Draft Constitution in East Sarajevo, points out that Republika Srpska has brought its own constitution into the Dayton-based BiH and has the right to regulate its organisation autonomously within the given framework.

When it comes to the adoption of the new constitution, Dakić explains that it is possible to discuss the procedure based on which this constitution will be adopted.

"The working group shares the opinion that the drafted new constitution should have continuity with the previous constitution. However, the constitutional jurisdiction of Republika Srpska and the National Assembly does not require it to follow the procedures of the current constitution. One thing is the adoption of a new constitution, and the other has is a completely new constitution," said Dakić.

He has added that at this stage we are working according to the regulations as prescribed by the current Constitution.

"If we want to preserve continuity, one of the essential conditions is for the new constitution to be adopted according to the procedure provided by the currently valid Constitution," said Dakić and added that how the constitution will be adopted is a matter of political decision.

He has pointed out that for any competence for which there is any lack of will to be transferred to the BiH level, it is a valid legal basis to revise, i.e. to raise the issue of the validity of such a transfer of competences.

"Both under international and local law, this is a reason for revision," said Dakić, who is a international law professor and adviser to the Republika Srpska National Assembly speaker.

Member of the National Assembly's Constitutional Affairs Committee and SNSD member in the National Assembly, Damjan Škipina, believes that the new constitution will receive two-thirds, perhaps absolute support, as it is an important issue for Republika Srpska and its citizens.

"What the citizens of East Sarajevo can be satisfied with is that legitimacy is being restored to the city of East Sarajevo and Pale as the place where everything started and where the Republika Srpska and its institutions were created," Škipina said.

SDS deputy in the Republika Srpska National Assembly Darko Berjan says the deputies of this party will not vote for the adoption of a new constitution, because it is not the time for that.

Representatives of the University of East Sarajevo, the academic community, local communities and political parties attend the public debate, which is held in the East Sarajevo City Assembly.