Meeting of the leadership of the City of Sarajevo with the newly appointed head of the OSCE mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ambassador Briana Aggeler
The Mayor of the City of Sarajevo, Benjamin Karić, and the Chairman of the City Council, Jasmin Ademović, met today in the City Hall with the delegation of the OSCE Mission led by the newly appointed head of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Brian Aggeler.
They congratulated the new ambassador on assuming his mandate and wished him success in his work, and expressed their expectation that the City of Sarajevo will continue the successful cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the future. They also recalled the last example of cooperation during the adoption the Draft Code of Ethics for elected and appointed Sarajevo officials, which is currently in the stage of public discussion.
The guests from the OSCE were presented with the projects of the City of Sarajevo, and the importance of improving the transparency of the work of the City Council was particularly emphasized. They were informed that, after a long time, the sessions of the City Council are broadcast live, as well as the fact that all acts related to the work of the City Council and working bodies are publicly available on the official website of the City Council. The communication and coordination of the City of Sarajevo with the local self-government units in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also with the cities of Europe and the world, within the framework of international cooperation, has been improved. Ambassador Aggeler is also familiar with the need of the City of Sarajevo for support in adopting regulatory plans to enhance the transparency of the entire procedure.
Chairman Ademović informed the guests about the concept and actions of the “Troika” at the city and cantonal level, which resulted in even more excellent support from citizens in the just-held elections, and the vision to spread this concept to other cantons, to the federal and state levels of government.
In accordance with the discussions on the results of the General Elections, Chairman Ademović expressed dissatisfaction with the imposed decisions of High Representative Christian Schmidt in terms of amendments to the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina and modifications to the Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He expressed his assessment that this method, to impose changes to the election procedure on election night, is an unprecedented attempt to retroactively apply the law because the elections are announced according to one legislation, and the results are implemented according to another, which does not correspond to democratic practice and the principles of the rule of law. At the same time, he criticized the essence of the imposed changes, pointing out that they only deepen and promote the existing ethnic divisions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina while they are approved in the RS entity. He emphasized that such solutions could only further slow down Bosnia and Herzegovina on the way to mandatory Euro-Atlantic integration, especially since they were brought under pressure and open interference of the neighboring country in internal political relations in BiH. In the end, the chairman of the City Council, Jasmin Ademović, expressed the hope that such changes will be challenged before the relevant courts or that the decisions will be revoked by the high representative.
The meeting was attended by a delegation consisting of Ms. Samra Ramić, Acting Head of the Office in Sarajevo, Mr. Mathieu Lemoine, Head of the Office for Policy Planning of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Ivan Lupis, Head of the Office for the Human Dimension.