MOSTAR, April 4 (Hina) - Sixty-eight Serb deputies in the People's Assembly of Republika Srpska on Thursday adopted amendments to the entity constitution which they claim are in line with a decision of the Constitutional Court of
Bosnia-Herzegovina on the country's three peoples being constituent throughout the country and a Sarajevo agreement on constitutional changes. Thirteen Bosniak and Croat deputies voted against.
MOSTAR, April 4 (Hina) - Sixty-eight Serb deputies in the People's
Assembly of Republika Srpska on Thursday adopted amendments to the
entity constitution which they claim are in line with a decision of
the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina on the country's
three peoples being constituent throughout the country and a
Sarajevo agreement on constitutional changes. Thirteen Bosniak and
Croat deputies voted against. #L#
"No one in Europe can contest the adopted constitutional amendments
because they guarantee the protection of the vital national
interests of peoples living in Republika Srpska, as well as ensure
Serb predominance in Republika Srpska," entity president Mladen
Ivanic said after the session, which lasted the whole day.
Under the amendments, vital national interests in the Serb entity
will be realised through the Council for the Protection of Vital
National Interests. The composition of the government should
reflect the 1991 census, according to which 57 percent of Serbs, 29
percent of Bosniaks and eight percent of Croats lived on the
territory of today's Bosnian Serb entity.
Serb deputies also changed regulations of the Sarajevo agreement on
constitutional changes regarding arbitration in case vital
national interests are violated.
They imposed a decision under which the entity's Constitutional
Court will make decisions in case of vital national interests being
violated with a two-thirds majority vote, although it was
previously agreed that a special national council at the court be in
charge of that.
With this decision and thanks to the composition of the
Constitutional Court the Serb side has ensured advantage in the
resolution of requests related to the protection of vital national
interests.
The amendments introduce in principle the equality of the three
peoples' languages, but impose the name Bosniak language instead of
Bosnian language for the Muslim population.
The parliament practically refused the request of the Croat and
Bosniak deputies that the entity president be elected in parliament
and that he make decisions only in agreement with his two deputies,
who should come from among the other two peoples.
The amendments would go into force once the process of amending the
Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina has been
completed.
The federation government yesterday adopted changes to previously
proposed constitutional solutions which are aimed at implementing
the agreement on constitutional changes, signed in late March.
The Social Democratic Party of Bosnia-Herzegovina's whip,
Zekerijah Smajic, said that non-Serb deputies were ignored and
could not take the floor before the vote on the amendments.
A vice-president of the Assembly and current president of the Party
of Democratic Action (SDA), Sulejman Tihic, said that under the
amendments Croats and Bosniaks in the Serb entity had less rights
than Serbs in the Federation.
(hina) rml