Dodik sets Republika Srpska Assembly session for Nov. 16
The SNSD leader told RTRS that the newly elected Republika Srpska president will be inaugurated on November 16, and that relations with Belgrade must stay good.
Milorad Dodik, leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), said on November 8 in the morning program of Radio-Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS) that Republika Srpska must have good relations with the authorities in Serbia. In the same appearance he announced that the National Assembly of Republika Srpska will meet on Monday morning, November 16.
What did Dodik say about relations with Belgrade?
Speaking about Serbia on RTRS, Dodik said: “We must have good relations with the authorities of Serbia until the last day, with full respect for the fact that someone new has won.” He added that the future relationship will be discussed later: “When the time comes, we will sit down and see what kind of relationship we will have.”
He went on to say that Banja Luka does not want to put its cooperation with Belgrade in question: “We have to build new relations, and we do not want to lose anything when it comes to cooperation with Serbia.” According to Dodik, everyone should work in the interest of the Serb people.
Dodik called the attack by political Sarajevo on Republika Srpska officials who congratulated the Student List on the elections absurd. The Student List’s response to his statements was not available at the time of publication.
What happens on November 16?
At the morning session, the newly elected Republika Srpska president, Savo Minic, is to be inaugurated, and Zeljka Cvijanovic, the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is to take her oath. Dodik explained that the date was set this way because the constitutive session of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency will take place in the afternoon, and Cvijanovic wants to take the oath before the Republika Srpska parliament first. In his words: “On 16.11. in the morning there will be Parliament, and after that the Presidency, when the Serb member should also take the oath.”
After the inauguration, he said, the clock starts on the period in which the new president nominates a prime minister designate, who then has 40 days to propose a government. Four delegates to the House of Peoples must also be chosen, Dodik said, noting that support is needed for the veto of the Serb member of the Presidency.
Two-thirds majority and the budget
Dodik claims that the SNSD and its coalition partners hold a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. He explained that this means 56 deputies, while 42 are enough to elect a government. A two-thirds majority, he said, is also needed to adopt a new Constitution of Republika Srpska or to amend it, and on its form he said: “We will see what form we will go with.”
“I can tell you that we have a two-thirds majority and that Republika Srpska will be completely stable in the coming period,” Dodik said, adding that the government will be elected quickly. He also announced that the Republika Srpska budget will be adopted by the end of the year, which, in his words, is sufficient proof of stability.
What did he say about Schmidt and political Sarajevo?
Dodik again demanded that all decisions of Christian Schmidt, as well as laws imposed by any representative not confirmed in parliament, be declared null and void, that is, unconstitutional. “We say let us declare null and void all the decisions made by Christian Schmidt, they will not,” he told RTRS.
By his account, political Sarajevo denies this, and he added: “We hate neither Muslims nor Bosniaks.” Dodik also claims that Sarajevo has no adequate politics with which one can talk.
