European Forum

Central government formed in Bosnia-Herzegovina

On Wednesday 28 of December the leaders of six main political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) reached an agreement on the formation of the state level government, 15 months after the general elections. Failure to reach an agreement before the end of 2011 could have left the country in a financial chaos as the last national budget was agreed for the financial year 2010.

After the October 2010 parliamentary elections leaders of the main political parties in BiH the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Party of Democratic Action (SDA), Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), its sister party HDZ 1990 and the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) failed to reach an agreement to form a state level government. As a consequence of the political dead lock the country fell even further behind in the EU integration process.

The new government will be made up of ten ministers, four Bosniaks, three Serbs and three Croats. One of the Bosniak positions will be given to a candidate who is not ethnically designated, while another Bosniak position will be assigned to a Bosniak from Republika Srpska (RS). Under the coalition deal the main Croat parties, HDZ and HDZ 1990, were promised the prime minister’s post and two other ministries. Former finance minster of the Bosniak-Croat entity BiH Federation, Vejkoslav Bevenda, (Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ BiH) has been nominated for the post of prime minister.

SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija said that he was sorry the agreement took so much time to resolve, but that he was satisfied with the result: “We have a clear agreement and I hope that in the future we will meet more often and spend less time dealing with each other.” RS president and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik stated “We did not get what we thought we would, but no one got everything they wanted.” A corruption investigation into Dodik was cancelled by the special prosecutor’s office on the same day the deal on the government formation was reached. Sulejman Tihic, SDA leader, said the importance of the adoption of laws which are necessary for the BiH EU enlargement process were discussed during the government formation: “After the state aid law, census law and amendments to the Constitution related to the Sejdic and Finci Human Rights verdict are adopted, Bosnia will then have a chance of being a credible candidate for EU accession.”

BiH High Representative, Valentin Inzko, congratulated the country’s politicians on the agreement adding that they will have to work hard to accomplish EU and NATO accession requirements. The European Commission welcomed the formation and encouraged the government to take further steps to ensure the country gets its bid to join the EU back on track.

Future prospects
It is questionable if the new government will be able to carry out the necessary reforms and bring the country closer to the EU. According to analysts it remains to be seen if the formation was not just another division of important positions among the political elite that is interested in maintaining the status quo in BiH. One of the leading experts on Southeastern Europe, Anes Ilic, argued in The Economist that “RS officials will stay the course of attempting to diminish the power of state institutions, and hints of secession will continue to circulate. Bosnian Croats will continue to work towards the creation of a third entity […] and Bosniaks will continue to fight both without any compromise.”

Source: BIRN, European voice, EUobserver, The Economist and Oslobodjenje