After 15 months of deadlock, the leaders of all of Bosnia’s major parties agreed today on the makeup of a new state-level Council of Ministers. The agreement was reached at an all-party meeting in Sarajevo that lasted for three hours.
Today’s Sarajevo summit followed several previous all-party and bi-lateral meetings in recent months, none of which had resulted in notable progress. Sources informed BiHDaytonProject.com that the parties agreed on the distribution of ministries among BiH’s three constituent peoples, though specific ministers were not named. According to the new arrangement, the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Security, and Communication and Transportation will be headed by Bosniaks—three from the Federation and one from the RS—while Serbs will head up the Civil Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Finance ministries. A Croat will take the chairmanship of the Council as well as the ministries of Justice and Human Rights and Refugees.
The leading RS parties have long insisted that the council chair should go to a Croat from one of the HDZ parties; this issue, as well as the disposition of the Foreign Ministry, was the main obstacle to progress over the past 15 months. The RS had originally demanded the Foreign Ministry, but has apparently sacrificed that claim in the interest of reaching an agreement. Under today’s agreement, a Serb will be named as Deputy Foreign Minister, and Serbs will also head the Agency for Investigation and Protection and the Agency for Communications. The national Indirect Tax Agency will by headed by a Croat.
The parties also agreed on new laws for state-level census and state aid today.
Parties are expected to begin naming their ministers tomorrow.
