POPOVIĆ: WE ARE ENACTING A MODERN CONSTITUTION AS THE BASIS FOR SRPSKA'S FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

ZVORNIK, APRIL 8 /SRNA/ - The chairman of the Working Group for drafting the new Constitution of Republika Srpska, Vitomir Popović, said today that Srpska needs to adopt a modern constitution that will serve as the foundation for its further development.

"It's another matter what someone might wish or think could be included, but we believe that a new constitution should be adopted - one that addresses the issue of the army, as was the case in the past, since we had a defense law, along with some other things," Popović told reporters in Zvornik, ahead of the public debate on the Draft Constitution of Republika Srpska.

He said that certain provisions will regulate the issue of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, the courts of full jurisdiction in Republika Srpska, the position of notariate, the legal profession, prosecutor's offices, and other institutions that will find their place in the Constitution as a basis for the adoption of laws that will later regulate these matters.

Popović said that the new constitution will not affect human rights and freedoms, which are part of the highest international standards stipulated by the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols.

He added that all citizens living in Republika Srpska are equal, with the right to vote and to be elected.

Popović reminded that the Constitution of Republika Srpska was adopted in 1992, but that with the entry into force of the Dayton Agreement, a certain portion of Republika Srpska's original jurisdictions was transferred to the level of the joint institutions of BiH, while after the interventions of the High Representatives, a significant part of the provisions was replaced by imposed amendments to the Constitution.

He explained that these imposed amendments have significantly disrupted the internal structure and called into question a whole range of Republika Srpska's jurisdictions, to disempower it, taking away its finances and security sector, making it an empty shell.

Popović said that Wolfgang Petritsch and Paddy Ashdown played a major role in this, imposing certain solutions directly, without the consent of the Republika Srpska National Assembly, as the highest legislative body, thus significantly disrupting the internal structure of Republika Srpska.

"The Republika Srpska National Assembly has adopted conclusions that everything representing the so-called foreign influence, or what resulted from the interventions of the High Representatives, should find its place in the garbage heap of history," emphasized Popović.

According to him, the National Assembly has decided to return certain jurisdictions that the High Representatives forcibly transferred through threats and the forced removal of MPs and other representatives of the political life of Republika Srpska.

"We have decided to restore these jurisdictions within the Constitution of Republika Srpska, as the highest legal act, based on which fundamental laws will be adopted to regulate areas such as the judiciary, the Court of BiH, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, indirect taxation, SIPA, OSA, and many other services, as well as the Electoral Law," said Popović.

He added that there is no reason for elections to be held at the level of BiH for the president of Republika Srpska, members of the Republika Srpska National Assembly, and councilors in the assemblies of cities and municipalities, as these were within the jurisdictions of Republika Srpska under Annex 3 of the Dayton Agreement and the Helsinki and Copenhagen Conventions.