CONTRADICTIONS IN BOSNIA’S CONSTITUTIONAL ARCHITECTURE
BOSNIA
AND HERZEGOVINA’S system of government has reached breaking point and the
country’s path to EUROPEAN UNION (EU) membership is blocked. The constitution
requires that the posts in two key institutions, the three-member presidency
and the parliamentary House of Peoples, be equally divided among BOSNIAKS
(BOSNIAN MUSLIMS), CROATS and SERBS. The EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS (ECtHR)
ruled in 2009 this violates the EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (ECHR) by
restricting others’ access.
The
EUROPEAN court’s ruling has exposed long-buried contradictions in BOSNIA’S constitutional
architecture, which have become more acute since the 31 May 2012 collapse of
the government coalition. BOSNIAN politicians need to reform their constitution
but reopening the DAYTON AGREEMENT will require more than a quick fix. The EU
should not make implementing the ECtHR decision a prerequisite for a credible
membership application if it seeks thorough comprehensive reform to put the
country on a firm footing.
BOSNIA’S failure to implement the
ECtHR’s landmark judgment on the SEJDIĆ-FINCI case baffles observers. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejdi%C4%87_and_Finci_v._Bosnia_and_Herzegovina
BOSNIA SUFFERS FROM UNRESOLVED ISSUES SIMILAR TO THOSE WHICH
SPARKED YUGOSLAVIA’S COLLAPSE
Discrimination
against minorities such as Jews and Roma is repugnant. Yet more than two and a
half years later, despite strong international pressure and a concerted push to
find a solution in spring 2012, BOSNIAN leaders have made no progress in
executing it. Even sympathetic observers wonder why the country persists in its
“racist” constitution. THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE warns that neither it nor the EU
would consider the 2014 elections for BOSNIA’S parliament legitimate without
the necessary constitutional amendments.
Yet
almost nothing about the SEJDIĆ-FINCI case is as it seems. Implementing the
judgment will not necessarily improve the situation of minorities, whose
marginalisation is due more to political culture than to the impugned
constitutional provisions. The dispute is not driven by discrimination which
all BiH parties agree must be eliminated. It is about whether, and how, to
preserve the rights of BOSNIA’S constituent peoples, especially those of the CROATS
who are the smallest group. Their position is likely to get a new boost when CROATIA
joins the EU in 2013.
Though
the ECtHR case is technical, it raises fundamental questions about BOSNIA’S
constitutional architecture and has opened dangerous and important issues
buried since the end of the war in 1995. In a stinging dissent, Judge Giovanni
Bonello condemned the court’s judgment and warned of the dangers of challenging
the status quo. Local leaders echo the warning.
BOSNIA suffers from unresolved
issues similar to those which sparked YUGOSLAVIA’S collapse, and a botched set
of amendments could make keeping the country together much harder. At the same
time, more delay in implementing the court’s judgment means more delay in
progress toward the EU, one of the only points on which all BOSNIA’S
constituencies agree.
RIFT BETWEEN THE THREE ETHNICITIES IS GROWING
Tension
between the two aspects of BOSNIAN federalism – the division into two
territorial entities (the FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA and the REPUBLIKA
SRPSKA), and three ethnic communities known as constituent peoples (the BOSNIAKS,
SERBS and CROATS) – has been growing for a decade. It is no longer sustainable.
Over the past two years, state institutions are under attack and there is a
crisis of governance in the federation and the REPUBLIKA SRPSKA. Institutions
at all levels are highly inefficient and politicians ignore difficult policy
choices and seem immune to domestic or international pressure.
BOSNIAN POLITICIANS ARE NOT ONLY UNABLE TO RESOLVE THE
PROBLEMS; THEY HAVE BECOME THE KEY PROBLEM OF BOSNIA
It
took fourteen months to form a state government after the October 2010
elections; this fragile coalition broke down less than six months later, on 31
May 2012. A new constellation of parties is trying to assert control, but its
former partners in state and federal government are holding on to their
positions and the prospects are unclear. What attention they have given to
implementing the ECtHR decision has focused on a solution that cements party
leaders’ already extensive hold on power.
ORGANIZED CRIME DRIVES BOSNIA'S "GREY" ECONOMY, WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR MORE THANT 80%!
In BOSNIA the government and its politicians are not only unable to resolve the problems; they have become a key problem themselves. (driven by corruption and organized crime syndicates. Bosnia's grey economy accounts for 80% of the countries income! Organized Crime is the key economic factor in BOSNIA)
CHANGE OF CONSTITUTION – THE KEY TO BOSNIA’S SURVIVAL AND
MOVE TOWARDS EUROPE, OR DISINTEGRATION WHICH WILL NOT END PEACEFULLY
There
is a popular assumption among BOSNIA’S EUROPEAN friends that implementing the EUROPEAN
court’s decision and changing its constitution will go some way in improving
governance. But there are no quick fixes. It will mean reopening the DAYTON
PEACE AGREEMENT which ended the 1992-1995 war, re-balancing the compromises
made in that agreement, and embarking on a comprehensive constitutional reform.
Though a return to violence remains unlikely, these issues are highly emotional
and risk extending political paralysis and leading to state failure. BOSNIA’S leaders
believe the EU requires only a technical fix, even if it leaves the country
even less governable. Ultimately, the decisions taken will decide whether BOSNIA
survives to move toward EUROPE or begins a process of disintegration that will
not end peacefully. To avoid this grim prospect:
- BOSNIA’S political leadership should refocus on constitutional reform, including the execution of the EUROPEAN court’s decision. It should adopt measures that: clarify whether and how elected and appointed officials are responsible to specific groups, all citizens, or those who voted them into office; allow voters rather than mid-level officials to choose national leaders; give CROATS an effective means of influencing state policy; provide room for those who identify as citizens rather than in ethnic terms to have a voice; and avoid overly complex rules prone to obstruction.
- EU states should lift their conditioning of BOSNIA’S candidacy on implementation of the court ruling. Comprehensive constitutional reform should be the end goal of membership talks, not its precondition.
ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALISM
AT THE DOORSTEPS OF EUROPE
Disintegration of BOSNIA would cause considerable
geopolitical and strategic implications for EUROPE for in most likelihood,
fundamental Islam would gain a significant influence among the young generation
of BOSNIAKS who already feeling that the EU has let them down. Should the
economic situation in BOSNIA deteriorate further due to lack of funding from
the EU, young unemployed and disillusioned BOSNIAKS could easily fall prey for
Islamic fundamentalist organisations as well as countries such as TURKEY and SAUDI
ARABIA taking advantage to infiltrate society and “force” their doctrines upon BOSNIAN
society, all at the doorsteps of EUROPE!
No comments:
Post a Comment