Meeting with representatives of the European delegation in BiH and EUSR

Representatives of the coalition of non-governmental organizations grouped around the common opposition towards the SDP – HDZ proposal for implementing the „Sejdić and Finci“ ruling issued by the European Human Rights Court against BiH, met today with the representatives of EUSR and Delegation of the EU in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The meeting was attended by Henrik Villadsen, chief of legal department and Stefan Simosas, chief of political office of the EUSR with their advisors. In front of the coalition of organizations of civil society, attendees included Jakob Finci, appellant to the European Court of Human Rights for the “Sejdić and Finci” case, Darko Brkan and Tijana Cvjetićanin (UG “Zašto ne”), Tija Memišević (Evropski istraživački centar), Darjan Bilić (Akcija građana) and Jesenko Osmanagić (Fondacija za kreativni razvoj).

Representatives of EUSR were briefed on the activities undertook by the appellants to the ECHR, Jakob Finci and Dervo Sejdić, for  the implementation of the ruling, and were also presented with the position of Jakob Fincija for further EU involvement in this issue. The representatives of the EUSR stated that the implementation of the “Sejdić and Finci” ruling remains one of the key issues for the integration process of BiH into the EU, and will further insist on solving this issue. It was also mentioned that the Council of Europe and the EHCR are evaluating all proposed amendments from the legal viewpoint, and the European Commission will evaluate if credible effort has been put forth in the implementation of the ruling

Representatives of civil society organizations also articulated their views on the existing proposals put forth by political parties in BiH for implementing the ruling and the role the EU should undertake in this process.

It was emphasized that the coalition welcomes the reaction by the European Commission in criticizing the lack or responsibility by political parties and their lack of progress in agreeing to amendments for implementing the ruling and expressed hope that EU institution will not retreat from its principles as displayed by the reaction of the European Commission. Also emphasized is the expectation that representatives of the EU develop a partnership with civil society in promoting democratic processes in BiH and hope that Commission will not be focused and constrained with time-frames when evaluating the steps taken by political actors in implementing the ruling and instead evaluate the content of submitted proposals in order to avoid supporting constitutional reforms that would lead to furthering discrimination of citizens in BiH which do not identify as one of the constitutive peoples.