News in English     | 07.07.2021. 19:42 |

Opposition MPs in HoR call for the adoption of the law on conflict of interest

FENA Vanja Tolj

SARAJEVO, July 7 (FENA) - The MPs of the SDP, Our Party and the A-SDA in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Saša Magazinović, Damir Arnaut and Jasmin Emrić requested today the adoption of the Bill on Conflict of Interest.

Magazinović reminded what happened with this piece of legislation, which is one of the three that are a priority for BiH in order to get the candidate status for membership in the European Union.

"In the last mandate, a group of deputies with representatives of the international community worked on drafting the Election Law. Towards the end of the mandate, we harmonized that law, signed it, and put it in the procedure. Obstructions were already visible at that time, so the law reached the end of the mandate without being discussed. In this mandate, we took over that law and sent it to the procedure, but the obstructions continued," he said.

He points out that the road to the voting itself lasted for more than two years, after which the law was adopted in the House of Representatives, and then the House of Peoples began to sabotage it.

"After the adoption, the international community did not commend this law, but the green light was given to the Minister of Justice of BiH to work on a new law on conflict of interest, in addition to the law that was in the procedure. The Venice Commission made a number of remarks and showed that there is no real intention in the Council of Ministers to draft this law the way the European partners would like it and for the law to truly meet the criteria," explains Magazinović.

He emphasizes that Emrić, Arnaut and himself put the law in the procedure again, which the House of Representatives has already adopted once, respecting the amendments of the SNSD and the HDZ, which are in line with European criteria.

He added that the institute of conflict of interest has been completely meaningless, especially in the Federation of BiH, where there is no institute of conflict of interest at the FBiH, cantonal or municipal level, nor is there a law that applies to it.

"It seems that it does not suit the political elites, who are used to abusing their position, for this law to be adopted. We expect that this law will be supported by international institutions and to be adopted in the House of Representatives, and then in the House of Peoples," Magazinović concluded.

The Our Party MP Damir Arnaut notes that the House of Peoples set a precedent that never happened in the post-Dayton BiH, when it asked the House of Representatives "to correct mistakes in the law".

"The House of Representatives is there to pass the laws not to correct mistakes. The House of Peoples stopped the law from adoption by using this technicality because the SNSD and the HDZ did not want an efficient system of controlling the situations of conflict of interest. The committee that decides on the conflict of interest should not include politicians, but experts who have had nothing to do with political parties for at least ten years," says Arnaut.

He notes that the law is modeled on the same law that is applied in the Republic of Croatia, introduces the same commission as it exists in Croatia, and it is no coincidence that this commission is a public body with the highest level of trust from the citizens in that country, he said.

He appealed to the European Commission, especially to the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH Johann Sattler, to whom he said exactly what would happen with the opinion of the Venice Commission, to stand behind this bill, after the OSCE Mission to BiH and Transparency International have done so already.

(FENA) S. R.

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