Bosnian Serb MPs Drop Controversial Referendum

balkan insight
02 Jun 2011 / 12:24

The parliament in Bosnia's predominantly Serb entity has formally dropped a plan to hold a controversial referendum on the state court.

Eldin Hadzovic

Sarajevo
The National Assembly of Republika Srpska, RSNA, passed a decision to repeal the referendum at its session on Wednesday.
The referendum, as well as its abolition, was proposed by the President of RS Milorad Dodik, and would have challenged Bosnia's highest judicial body – the state court and prosecution. Dodik maintains that the state court and prosecutor are biased against Serbs....more...

read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/referendum-no-more

Republika Srpska MPs Continue Debate On Referendum

balkan insight
01 Jun 2011 / 11:01

Opposition MPs in the parliament of Bosnia's predominantly Serb entity have criticised the region's president for an aborted referendum proposal.

Eldin Hadzovic

Sarajevo

Lawmakers in the parliament of Republika Srpska are set to continue their debate today on the cancellation of a controversial referendum on the state judiciary....more...

read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/the-bosnian-serb-session-on-referendum-continues

Bosnian Serb MPs Set to Withdraw Referendum Decision

balkan insight
31 May 2011 / 08:38

The National Assembly of Bosnia's predominantly Serb part is set to discuss the withdrawal of a controversial referendum on the state judiciary on Tuesday.

Eldin Hadzovic

Sarajevo
A proposal by Milorad Dodik, the President of Bosnia's predominantly Serb Republika Srpska, to repeal the decision to hold a referendum, will be put to a vote in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, RSNA, on Tuesday....more...

read more: balkan insight
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/rs-national-assembly-to-withdraw-its-decision-on-referendum

EU Welcomes Cancellation of Bosnian Serb Referendum

balkan insight
24 May 2011 / 08:39

EU foreign ministers have welcomed the cancellation of a referendum on the state judiciary in Bosnia's predominantly Serb entity.
Eldin Hadzovic

Sarajevo
Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, submitted a report on her recent visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina to the foreign ministers of the EU member states on Monday in Brussels....more....

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/eu-welcomed-cancellation-of-the-bosnian-serb-referendum

read more: balkan insight

Bosnian Serbs Call Off Controversial Referendum

radio free europe
May 13, 2011

By RFE/RL
The Bosnian Serb leadership has called off a controversial referendum that had sparked a political crisis and threatened to sour ties with the international community.
The referendum, planned for next month, would have asked Bosnian Serbs whether they accept the authority of the national court and of the UN-appointed envoy to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik made the announcement today after meeting with EU foreign-affairs chief Catherine Ashton in Banja Luka -- the capital of the Serbian entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska:
"We should all work together to bring the judiciary in line with European standards," he said. ...more...
read more: radio free europe
http://www.rferl.org/content/bosnian_serbs_call_off_controversial_referendum/24107526.html

Dodik cancels referendum after talks with Ashton

se times
16/05/2011

The president says a referendum on judicial institutions is no longer needed.
By Ljiljana Smiljanic for Southeast European Times in Banja Luka -- 16/05/11
Republika Srpska (RS) dodged possible sanctions by the Office of the High Representative on Saturday (May 14th) when the entity's president, Milorad Dodik, decided to postpone organising a referendum on BiH's court and prosecutor's office. ...more...
read more: se times
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2011/05/16/feature-01

Tadić congratulates RS president on agreement with EU

b92.net
Politics

Sunday 15.05.2011
11:29
Source: Tanjug

NOVI SAD -- Serbian President Boris Tadić congratulated Saturday Republic of Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik on the agreement with the EU....more...
read more: b92.net
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=15&nav_id=74340

Dodik changes mind on referendum

b92.net
Source: Tanjug

BANJA LUKA -- RS President Milorad Dodik said in Banja Luka on Friday that the referendum on the decisions of high representatives in Bosnia was "unnecessary".
He also said that visiting High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union (EU) Catherine Ashton promised the EU would form a commission for restructuring the judicial institutions in Bosnia....more...
read more: b92.net
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=13&nav_id=74312

Ashton convinces Dodik to give up on referendum

tportal.hr
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
13.05.2011 13:43

Author: Radio.net

The European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, on Friday persuaded the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to give up on the implementation of a referendum which was supposed to challenge the existence of Bosnia's State Court and Office of the Prosecutor....more...

read more: tportal.hr
http://daily.tportal.hr/127686/Ashton-convinces-Dodik-to-give-up-on-referendum.html

Bosnians React to Decision to Drop Referendum

balkan insight
13 May 2011 / 17:24

After meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday in Sarajevo, Bosniak leaders said they were pleased that the controversial referendum in Republika Srpska had been dropped.
Eldin Hadzovic

Sarajevo
Zlatko Lagumdzija, the president of the Social Democrats, the largest party in the mainly Bosniak-Croat federation, said that he was glad that Republika Srpska had shown a willingness to withdraw the decision on the referendum, which would have challenged the state court....more...

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bosnians-react-to-decision-to-drop-referendum

read more: balkan insight

Bosnia: Dodik Agrees to Drop Disputed Referendum

balkan insight
13 May 2011 / 14:15

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said today that a controversial referendum on the state court and prosecutor "is not necessary", putting a temporary end to a crisis that has lasted several weeks.Eldin Hadzovic, Drazen Remikovic
Sarajevo, Banja Luka
Dodik, the president of Bosnia's predominantly Serb entity, Republika Srpska, met on Friday with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and EU envoy Miroslav Lajcak, and other top Republika Srpska officials....more...

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/catherine-ashton-to-meet-bosnian-leaders

read more: balkan insight

Dodik agrees to postpone RS referendum

b92.net
Region

Thursday 12.05.2011
13:04
Source: Blic, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Serb Republic (RS) President Milorad Dodik has stated that RS authorities have come into contact with Brussels and agreed to postpone a planned referendum.
This comes "as a sign of good will so as to enable opening of a dialogue on the questions that RS has tabled"...more...
read more: b92.net
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=12&nav_id=74301

Dodik: Serb entity willing to postpone referendum

tportal.hr
REPUBLIKA SRPSKA
12.05.2011 14:50

Author: Radio.net

The President of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, told the Belgrade-based Blic daily of Thursday that the RS had agreed to postpone a referendum challenging the existence of Bosnia's State Court and Office of the Prosecutor as a sign of good will, and that it was eagerly awaiting Friday's decision by the High Representative to Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, on the RS referendum plan....more...

read more: tportal.hr
http://daily.tportal.hr/127480/Dodik-Serb-entity-willing-to-postpone-referendum.html

UN envoy Inzko calls planned Bosnian Serb referendum a 'catastrophe'

deutsche welle
Politics
12.05.2011

Ethnically divided Bosnia faces its most serious crisis since its establishment, the UN's High Representative has warned. The regional Serb parliament is planning a referendum on the legality of Bosnia's national court.

Bosnia is divided between former wartime adversaries living in two autonomous regions - a separatist Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat federation.
It is still without a government seven months after the last elections, and political leaders in the Serb Republic continue to advocate dissolving the country. In the latest challenge to central authority in Bosnia, the regional Serb parliament has backed plans for a referendum in June on the legality of Bosnia's national court, which prosecutes war crimes suspects.
The international High Representative for the Balkan state, Valentin Inzko, regards the planned vote as a blatant attack on the Dayton Peace Agreement and has threatened to cancel the referendum. Deutsche Welle's Christina Bergmann met Inzko in Washington. ....more...
read more: deutsche welle
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15069266,00.html

RS negotiating with Brussels

blic online

Interview with Milorad Dodik

NEDELJKA BREBERINA ANĐELKO KOZOMARA

12. 05. 2011. - 00:02h
Foto: S. Pašalić
Komentara: 0

The Republic of Srpska is impatiently waiting for tomorrow’s decision by the High Representative Valentin Incko about the referendum in the RS. In the interview with ‘Blic’, the RS President Milorad Dodik says that ‘the RS has elaborated strategy whatever move Incko may make’....more...

read more: blic online
http://english.blic.rs/News/7634/RS-negotiating-with-Brussels

"RS must withdraw decision on referendum"

b92.net
Region

Tuesday 10.05.2011
09:25
Source: Tanjug

NEW YORK -- The Serb Republic (RS) decision hold a referendum in June is the most serious violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, a UN Security Council debate heard.
The referendum question in the Serb entity will relate to the validity of the powers of the high representative and many state-level institutions, including the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina....more...
read more: b92.net
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=10&nav_id=74248

Bosnia: State Institutions under Attack

international crisis group
Bosnia Briefing N°62 6 May 2011

OVERVIEW
Bosnia faces its worst crisis since the war. State institutions are under attack by all sides; violence is probably not imminent but is a near prospect if this continues. Seven months after elections, there is no state government and little prospect for one soon. The authorities of the larger of the entities, the Federation, were formed controversially – a main state institution said illegally – in March and are disputed by Croats, who have created a parallel Croat National Assembly. The other entity, Republika Srpska, has called a referendum that could provide support for a Serb walkout of Bosnian institutions. With such trends, it is all too easy to imagine Bosniak parties overseeing a failed state whose institutions Serbs and Croats have abandoned. Compromises are needed so every Bosnian side can claim enough victory to justify retreat from the brink. The international community needs to step back from over-involvement in local politics to calibrate goals to a realistic appraisal of diminished powers and best guarantee stability. Then work needs to begin to create a context for renewing Dayton and achieving EU membership. ...more....
read more: international crisis group
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/europe/balkans/bosnia-herzegovina/b062-bosnia-state-institutions-under-attack.aspx

Back To The Bad Old Days In Bosnia

radio free europe
May 10, 2011

By Nenad Pejic
Milorad Dodik isn't exactly a household name outside of the Balkans. But that could soon change -- and it probably won't be good news for Bosnia-Herzegovina or the wider situation in Southeastern Europe.
Dodik is the president of Republika Srpska, the Serbian component of the Bosnian federal state. These days his reception room is crowded with international representatives trying to dissuade him from calling a referendum designed to scuttle a law originally issued 10 years ago by the Office of the High Representative, the country's UN-appointed administrator.
The law would have enabled the federal government in Sarajevo to function more smoothly -- which is just what Dodik wants to prevent. The international community is worried that Dodik's defiance could undermine the state's fragile existence.
Now the UN Security Council has been forced to take a stand on the issue. On May 9, High Representative Valentin Inzko received a solid expression of support from the UN Security Council -- welcome enough, but still a long away from any decisive action.
Dodik reacted immediately by downplaying the announcement, saying that only a few countries on the council had actually participated in the pro-Inzko vote: "For support like that it wasn't even worth the trip!" ...more...
read more: balkan insight
http://www.rferl.org/content/commentary_back_to_bad_old_days_in_bosnia/24096999.html

Referendum delay in exchange for war crimes trials

b92.net
Politics

Monday 9.05.2011
09:31
Source: B92, Beta

BELGRADE -- The Serb Republic (RS) could postpone its referendum on Bosnia-Herzegovina Court and Prosecution "if trials for crimes committed against Serbs start in Bosnia".
This is according to RS President Milorad Dodik, who said the Serb entity would not give up on the referendum, scheduled to take place next month. ...more...
read more: b92.net
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=09&nav_id=74227

Without sanctions for RS, Dodik ready to ease tension

blic online

SC about crisis in BiH

Tamara Spaić

10. 05. 2011. - 00:02h
Komentara: 0

BELGRADE - ‘There is no chance that the UN Security Council enforces sanctions against the Republic of Srpska and its President Milorad Dodik. Firstly, Russia would not allow it and China probably as well’, Fedja Starcevic, Serbia Ambassador to the UN told ‘Blic’ shortly ahead of the beginning of the UN SC session which dealt with the crisis in Bosnia/Herzegovina because of the announced referendum. Almost all agree that this crisis is the biggest since constituting of the ‘Dayton’ Bosnia/Herzegovina....more...

read more: blic online
http://english.blic.rs/News/7624/Without-sanctions-for-RS-Dodik-ready-to-ease-tension