High Representative visiting
Zagreb
Friday
The High Representative Christian Schwarz
– Schilling will pay one day visit to
Zagreb
on Friday, 19 May where he
will meet with Croatian Prime Minsiter, Ivo Sanader, Speaker of the Croatian
Sabor, Vladimir Seks and Minister for Culture, Bozo Biskupic.
The High Representative and his hosts
will discuss current state of affairs regarding EU integration
processes in BiH and
and Croatia as well as entire region have the same goal and the same destination
– fastest integration into EU so it is normal to have a dialogue.
Dr. Schwarz –Schilling will also point
out that Croats in BiH must have active role in shaping of the
country in which they would feel comfortable, together with other two
constituent peoples.
OHR Calls For Political
Responsibility in Palic Case
On Monday this week the RS Government’s
own deadline for meeting the full HRC requirement to uncover the whereabouts of
the remains of Avdo Palic expired. The RS Government’s Palic Commission
delivered its report on 21 April declaring that they had ascertained
Avdo Palic’s fate and that his remains are buried in the Han Pijesak area.
At that time the RS Government
made a public commitment to exhume the remains as soon
as conditions on the ground allowed. They can no longer argue
that snow is preventing this exhumation.
RS Prime Minister Dodik on 3
May gave assurances to Senior Deputy High Representative Peter Bas Backer that
he would personally ensure that the remains are uncovered, and that he would
visit the site this week in order to make sure that progress is made:
neither of these commitments has been honoured.
After years of denial, the RS
Institutions have finally admitted that it is within their capacity to fulfil
the HRC Decision and reveal the fate and whereabouts of Avdo Palic to his widow,
Esma Palic. Yet the political will to act on this appears to be
lacking.
On Tuesday this week OHR representatives
met with representatives of the RS Government and the RS Ministry of Interior.
At that meeting RS Ministry of Interior representatives in
charge of the investigation gave assurances that Avdo Palic’s remains
would be uncovered within ten days – by Friday 26 May.
The Prime Minister has made
personal commitments with regard to the Palic case
specifically and in general with regard to upholding the rule of law
and turning the RS’s record on war crimes issues around. It remains to be
seen whether these are empty promises, or whether the Prime Minister and the RS
Government are prepared to follow their public and private comments with
action.
If the RS fails in this case then they
immediately give the FBiH Government a pretext not to fulfil their
obligations in the case of the missing in
The Human Rights Chamber Decision on the
RS authorities’ obligations in regard to Avdo Palic is war-crimes
related. The fall of Žepa is the subject of a current case before the ICTY
and therefore the authorities must make this an issue of the
highest priority.
There is no deadline extension in this
case. The OHR expects the PM and the RS Government to fulfil the
commitments they have made, and will be communicating this to the RS
PM.
OHR Welcomes Moody’s Decision to
Raise BiH Credit Rating
The Principal Deputy High Representative,
Larry Butler, has welcomed the decision by Moody’s Investor Service to upgrade
Explaining its decision, Moody’s pointed
out that BiH has successfully implemented major economic reforms, including
the introduction of VAT, which will encourage investment and growth, and it
also noted that the SAA process will encourage further political and economic
strengthening.
Moody’s added that as BiH officials have
increasingly taken the initiative in promoting reforms the OHR has been able to
adopt a less interventionist stance.
Moody’s decision will make it easier for
BiH to obtain loans, and at better rates, on the international capital markets,
which should make it easier to secure funds for investment in jobs.
“This is a major step forward,”
Ambassador Butler said today. “What is important now is that the BiH authorities
take advantage of the forward momentum that is now being created, enact key
reforms before the end of this year and start to make faster progress in
creating jobs and reducing poverty.”
Among key economic reforms to be enacted
this year are the BIH Law on National Fiscal Council, the BiH
Law on Obligations and the BiH Salary law and the centralization of banking
supervision at the State level so as to offer stronger guarantees to
depositors.
Ambassador Butler congratulated the
Governor of the BiH Central Bank, Kemal Kozaric, who has been persuasive and
effective in presenting BiH’s economic progress to international agencies,
including Moody’s.
