LAJCAK CALLS ON SPIRIC TO CONVENE A SESSION OF BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 22,2007) – The International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak said that no meeting of the Bosnian Government has taken place since 16 October.

Lajcak expects all the Bosnian state institutions to continue to function and calls on Bosnia's Prime Minister in resignation, Nikola Spiric, urgently to convene a session of the Bosnian Government.

“Crucial laws are pending before the Bosnian Government and cannot enter the parliamentary procedure without approval. The Law on Police Officials needs to be amended in line with the April 2007 UN Security Council decision on decertified police officers, which would allow them to re-apply to positions in police bodies”, the Office of the International Community's High RepresentativeO in Bosnia (OHR) spokesperson Eldar Subasic told a press conference in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

Other pending laws concern vocational education and training, the creation of a Bosnian National Fiscal Council, and establishing single criteria for salaries of employees of the Bosnian state institutions.

Last but now least, the Bosnian Government must approve the Law on the Budget of the Bosnian State for 2008, Subasic said.

He said that a series of Decision are also outstanding. The Bosnian Government has to appoint a new Director of the Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and give its approval for the Agreement on State Property.

Bosnia and its institutions cannot afford the luxury of inactivity. While Bosnia's Prime Minister in resignation Nikola Spiric is clearly in a technical mandate, he still has a responsibility to provide for the functioning of the Bosnian Government,the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajcak said.

“Mr Spiric should do his job”, said Lajcak. “Even if he disagrees with my Decisions he is still democratically accountable to the people of Bosnia for the running of the country, until a replacement is elected.”

“A Chair of the Council of Ministers who resigns, doesn’t show up for work, and who then complains that the International Community is running the country and ignoring him, is not only failing to do his job, but he is also betraying the Bosnian citizens!” the OHR spokeperson Eldar Subasic said citing Lajcak's conclusions.