SARAJEVO, April 29 (Hina) - The House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Parliament on Thursday postponed its session which was to ratify an agreement on special relations with Croatia, due to the failure of Croat
and Bosniak representatives to reach an agreement on the content of the decision they were supposed to adopt. Before the postponement, the MPs had a debate which lasted several hours and at moments threatened to escalate into an incident. The argument was caused by a proposal by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) of Bosnia-Herzegovina that the parliament, along with adopting a decision on ratifying the agreement on special relations, should also adopt a conclusion saying that annexes to the agreement, which are yet to be drawn up, should also be discussed and approved by the parliament before they are adopted. A similar decision had already been adopted by the
SARAJEVO, April 29 (Hina) - The House of Peoples of the Federation
of Bosnia-Herzegovina's Parliament on Thursday postponed its
session which was to ratify an agreement on special relations with
Croatia, due to the failure of Croat and Bosniak representatives to
reach an agreement on the content of the decision they were supposed
to adopt.
Before the postponement, the MPs had a debate which lasted several
hours and at moments threatened to escalate into an incident.
The argument was caused by a proposal by the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) of Bosnia-Herzegovina that the parliament, along with
adopting a decision on ratifying the agreement on special
relations, should also adopt a conclusion saying that annexes to
the agreement, which are yet to be drawn up, should also be
discussed and approved by the parliament before they are adopted.
A similar decision had already been adopted by the House of
Representatives and its adoption was insisted on by all Bosniak
representatives. Federation Vice-President and President, Ivo
Andric-Luzanski and Ejup Ganic, presented opposed views on this
issue to the House of Peoples.
Luzanski assessed that the adoption of the proposed conclusion
would represent the redefinition of the essence of the agreement on
special relations, and demonstrate distrust in Bosniak
representatives delegated to negotiate the annexes.
Ganic said that fears of tricks during the adoption of the annexes
were unfounded, but added it would be useful for the parliament to
discuss the content of the annexes.
Representatives were informed about the opinion of the High
Representative Carlos Westendorp, who also supported the idea of
annexes being discussed before their adoption.
After a failed vote on ratifying the agreement and failed attempts
to harmonise views, the president of the House of Peoples, Mato
Zovko, closed the session, postponing it for May 6.
(hina) rml