Acts passed by the Parliament of Republika Srpska, as the highest legislative and constitutional authority of the Republic, are binding for the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, the President of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Nedeljko Čubrilović, stated in a letter he sent to Office of High Representative (OHR) yesterday.

The letter underlines that it is completely unacceptable for someone who aspires to be an international representative is subject to pressure from Sarajevo’s streets and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) politicians, and does not respect the position of a legal and legitimate democratic body such as the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.

Čubrilović stressed that his own conclusion from March 10 of last year, regarding the assessment of the work of the high representative, the application of Annex 10 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) during the period of discussions on the appointment of a new high representative, were binding for the Parliament of Srpska, which stated that the National Assembly believed that the implementation of the civilian part of the peace agreement had long been achieved, and that the presence and activities of the OHR had been a serious burden for the progress of BiH for many years and were incompatible with the concept of the Constitution of BiH, and represented an obstacle on its path to European integration.

“After 25 years of peace in BiH, it is high time that the OHR is shut down and that the responsibility for the future and functioning of BiH becomes the exclusive right and competence of the people of BiH and their political representatives, without foreign interference or any other type of endangerment of democratic processes and mechanisms regulated by the Constitution of BiH”, Čubrilović reminded of the conclusion of the Parliament of Srpska.

He added that the National Assembly believed that it was necessary for local institutions to take responsibility for the functioning of BiH and that undemocratic and uncivilized actions of a foreigner to impose legal solutions in BiH were unacceptable.

“The National Assembly of Republika Srpska is still committed to the democratization of society and advocates the complete sovereignty of BiH and its entities, without the presence of a high representative and foreign judges in the Constitutional Court of BiH, which is an unacceptable precedent that makes meaningless any attempt to normalize relations, the rule of law and process of European integration”, the letter highlights.

The National Assembly confirms that on July 27, the Cabinet of the President of the National Assembly received the “Decision on Amendments to the BiH Election Law”.

Christian Schmidt, whom Republika Srpska does not recognize as a high representative in BiH, yesterday imposed a decision on amendments to the Election Law of BiH related to, as he said, the election transparency package, while he left more time for domestic politicians for the political part.