The Serb member of the Presidency of BiH, Željka Cvijanović, stated to Srna that the fact that the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo is trying to convince the public that a statement holds more legal power than the Constitution best reflects a deeply patronizing attitude towards BiH, its sovereignty, and the rule of law in general.
Responding to Srna’s question regarding the U.S. Embassy’s claims that “property belongs to the state, not the entities,” referring to statements by Deputy Secretary of State James O’Brien rather than the Dayton Agreement, Cvijanović said she noticed the Embassy’s extensive writing but did not see an answer to the clear and concise question posed by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
“Instead of citing the Constitution and the Dayton Agreement, they referred to O’Brien’s statement as if the statement of any foreign or domestic official is a source of law,” Cvijanović emphasized.
Unfortunately, she added, the Constitutional Court of BiH has made many decisions under the direct influence of foreign factors, which were not aimed at protecting the Constitution but solely at creating a new constitutional environment.
“The chaos we live in today was caused by such occurrences that, while feeding the political appetites of some, persistently sought to strip away the rights of others,” Cvijanović concluded.
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, responded yesterday to the U.S. Embassy’s claims in Sarajevo that the conclusions adopted at the All-Serb Assembly in Belgrade represent an attack on the Dayton Agreement and BiH institutions, demanding a specific explanation of how they concluded and based on which act that property belongs to the central authorities rather than the entities.
The U.S. Embassy stated that “there is no need to reconsider the well-documented legal history and court rulings regarding property in BiH,” citing a speech by Deputy Secretary of State James O’Brien, asserting that “the starting point remains clear – the property belongs to the state.”
Source: RTRS
