The House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed today the Bill on Amendments to the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HJPC BiH), proposed by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Out of the 15 delegates present, 10 delegates voted ‘for’ the proposed law, and five were ‘against’. Six delegates from the Federation of BiH supported the proposed law, while four delegates were ‘against’, and from four delegates from the RS voted ‘for’ and one delegate voted ‘against’.
Before voting on the actual Bill, the delegates expressed their opinion on two amendments proposed by four delegates from the Bosniak People’s Club – Šefik Džaferović, Džemal Smajić, Dženan Đolagić and Safet Softić, but the proposed amendments were not supported.
These delegates announced during the discussion that they will be against the proposed Bill if their two amendments were not supported.
The BiH Minister of Justice Davor Bunoza, addressing the delegates after the discussion, explained why a new law must be passed within a year.
“Because we have two priorities. The first priority – the law and amendments to the law concerning the integrity of the holders of judicial functions, transparency, responsibility and two-tier decision-making. This is the priority of the European Commission if we want to get closer to the European Union. And within a year, we have to pass the entire law, where we will only incorporate these amendments. Therefore, the selection of judges, the method of selection, the procedure regarding the Office of the Disciplinary Counsel (UDT) and the like,” explained Minister Bunoza.
He said that working groups are already working on the new Bill and that they will try to meet the deadline of one year.