Brussels Takes on Bosnia Judicial Reform

Catherine Ashton | EU will establish a commission to analyse the work of judicial institutions of Bosnia

The situation in Bosnia and the special report by Ashton will be on the agenda during the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, said Catherine Ashton's spokesperson Maja Kocijancic.

After meeting with Ashton in Banja Luka on May 13, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik abandoned a plan to hold a referendum on the state court and prosecution, in exchange for a reform of the state's judicial system.

Arguing that the state court and prosecution are biased against Serbs, on April 13 the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, passed the controversial decision to hold the referendum.

The ensuing crisis was halted following Ashton's meeting with Dodik and the agreement to hold talks on reforming the judicial system.

During her visit to Banja Luka, Ashton announced that the EU would establish a commission to analyse the work of the country's judicial institutions and to provide recommendations for a reform of the state judicial system, and her message to ministers in Brussels is expected to match her words in Banja Luka.

"The High Representative's report will be in the same tone as it was in Banja Luka, and her message was clear then," Maja Kocijancic said.

EU Enlargement Commission Stefan Fuele will head the effort to discuss judicial reforms; it is expected that he will hold the first meeting in Republika Srpska's de facto capital Banja Luka by the first half of June.

The proposed referendum, which international officials warned threatened the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, was abandoned by Republika Srpska after European officials convinced the authorities there that their opinions on the state court and prosecution would be considered.

Still, willingness to talk about these remarks does not mean that the EU will agree to the changes sought by Bosnian Serb leaders.

"We'll talk about issues surrounding appellate proceedings, war crimes and retroactive application of certain laws. That does not mean that we agree with all remarks," said Renzo Daviddi, temporary head of the EU Delegation in BiH.

While opposition leaders in Republika Srpska saw the withdrawal of the referendum as a capitulation by Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, who initiated and then abandoned the decision to hold a referendum, Brussels considered Dodik's move a positive signal for cooperation.

While the outcome of the upcoming talks on judicial reform in Bosnia remains unclear, many political analysts and politicians believe that the changes will result in the formation of a Supreme Court, which was recommended in last week’s OSCE report on five years of war crimes processing in Bosnia.