LONIĆ: UNA-SANA CANTON ASSEMBLY HAS NOT RESPECTED CONSTITUENT STATUS OF PEOPLES SINCE 2017

SARAJEVO, SEPTEMBER 3 /SRNA/ - Since 2017, the Assembly of the Una-Sana Canton has never respected the constituent status of the peoples, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Mladen Lonić said today.

At a public hearing before the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests of the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH in a case concerning a request by the Serb Caucus in the Una-Sana Canton Assembly to establish a vital national interest of the Serb people during the change of government in the canton, Lonić stressed that he and his family had come under attack in the media because of the request, which, he said, shows that Serbs are under threat in the Una-Sana Canton. "Neither the Ministry of the Interior nor anyone else imposed any sanctions for those public statements," Lonić stressed. He explained that the previous Government of the Una-Sana Canton, which was voted out of office, had two Serb ministers, as required by the Constitution of the Una-Sana Canton, while the new authorities wanted to appoint one Serb and one Croat. "When the previous Government was formed, I told the prime minister-designate, Mustafa Ružnić, that, according to the 1991 census and the canton’s Constitution, there should be two Serbs in the government because Serbs accounted for 21 percent of the population in what is now the territory of the Una-Sana Canton. I have now invoked the vital national interest because the new authorities wanted to appoint one Serb and one Croat," Lonić said. Lonić said that the Secretary of the Una-Sana Canton Assembly had failed to provide him with assistance at the session at which the Government was voted out of office, and that there are no Serbs in the Assembly’s working bodies. According to him, the proposed Appointments Commission, which is also the subject of the request for a ruling on the vital national interest and was formed at the Assembly session at which the Government was voted out of office, has neither Serbs nor Croats among its members, but only Bosniak MPs. Responding to claims by MP Sanil Husić that the Speaker of the Una-Sana Canton Assembly and his deputies were negotiating the name of the prime minister-designate, Lonić stressed that this had not happened at the most recent session. Jasmin Hušić, Head of the Bosniak Caucus, confirmed that there had never been two Serb ministers in the Government of the Una-Sana Canton, but always one Serb and one Croat. Hušić reminded that if the Una-Sana Canton Assembly votes no confidence in the Government, the Government is then obliged to resign. At the end of the public hearing, Aleksandra Martinović, Chairwoman of the Council for the Protection of Vital Interests of the Constitutional Court of the FBiH, said that the decision on the merits would be made public within an appropriate timeframe. Representatives of the Croat Caucus in the Una-Sana Canton Assembly did not attend the public hearing. The case was initiated following political changes in the Una-Sana Canton, when the canton government headed by Mustafa Ružnić was dismissed at an extraordinary session held on the night of August 10–11, after which a new government was confirmed with Ibrahim Dizdarić as prime minister. During that session, Mladen Lonić, Deputy Speaker of the Una-Sana Canton Assembly and a member of the Serb Caucus, invoked the mechanism for the protection of vital national interests. The Serb Caucus challenged several decisions adopted at the session, arguing that they encroached upon the constitutional principle of adequate representation of the constituent peoples in government bodies. According to the Council's ruling, the challenged acts may neither be applied nor published in the official gazettes until a final decision is issued. The Court also held that accepting the request for a ruling merely initiates proceedings on the merits and does not mean that a violation of a vital national interest has already been established.