Stevandic: Srpska maintains legal continuity

Date: 
02.03.2023 - 14:15

The Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska has today unanimously determined the answers to the Constitutional Court of BiH in five cases, namely the answers to the requests for the evaluation of the constitutionality of the Law on Usurpation and Volunteer Competences, and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Preschool Upbringing and Education, the Law and Primary Upbringing and Education and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Secondary Upbringing and Education in the parts that deal with the St. Sava  Award.

The board also determined three responses to requests related to the Law on Salaries and Fees of Judges and Public Prosecutors in the Republic of Srpska.

Addressing the media after the session, the President of the National Assembly and the President of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Nenad Stevandić, said that the Republic of Srpska continues the legal continuity of its decisions and shows seriousness in relation to the Federation.

"The Republic of Srpska causes immediate reactions from the Constitutional Court for almost all the acts it passes, and it deals with that pressure appropriately and democratically," said Stevandić.

He adds that the Federation continues to apply the laws that the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared unconstitutional, while the Republic of Srpska, after any decision has been made by the Constitutional Court, schedules a session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, changes the law, preserving the ownership and competences of the Republic of Srpska and keeps the legal continuity of their decisions.

President Stevandić commented on the decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which made a decision today on the temporary suspension of the Law on Immovable Property, which is used for the functioning of public authorities in the Republic of Srpska, considering that in such a situation the Constitutional Court humiliated Kristijan Šmit.

"Schmit, worrying about the vacuum in which the Republic of Srpska could register its property, hastened to make a decision that is different from the earlier decisions of the Constitutional Court, which led to the fact that the Constitutional Court had to correct the decision of the illegitimate High Representative by adopting a temporary measure,"said  Stevandić stating that the nonsense of the relationship between the OHR and the Constitutional Court has been exposed.

He added that the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska will give a legal response to this decision of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and if necessary, at an extraordinary session, and everything by democratic and civilizational principles, because it is not about banal changes but about maintaining legal continuity.