International Community’s High Representative Christian Schmidt will address the BiH Parliament on Thursday, Denis Zvizdic, the Speaker of the House of Representatives said Tuesday following a board meeting.
“As for the High Representative’s request, the conclusion was adopted that the session will be held on Thursday, October 28. starting at 12 pm. The High Representative will have the opportunity to address members of the House of Representatives and present his views on the current political situation and strategy for his further work and activities in BiH,” Zvizdic said.
The international envoy, officially High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in charge of overseeing the peace process implementation, asked to address the Parliament regarding the “increasing political tensions” and to discuss the future priorities with Bosnian parliamentarians.
Schmidt proposed October 28 or 29 for the address.
The request comes amid the political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the ruling party in the country’s Serb-majority entity Republika Srpska and its leadership is announcing potential withdrawal from the state-level institutions and mentioning a possibility of the entity’s secession.
“We’ll see whether the colleagues from the RS will show up. It is their right and obligation to attend House of Representatives sessions for which they receive the highest salaries in BiH. Once again I call upon my RS colleagues to attend,” Zvozdic added.
The Board session was not attended by RS representatives who said earlier they would not attend the session at which Schmidt would speak, either.