BOSNIA: SDP-SDA COALITION BREAKS UP

SDP BiH President Zlatko Lagumdzija sent a letter to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of BiH Vjekoslav Bevanda, in which he seeks the dismissal of ministers and deputy ministers from the ranks of the SDA.

"Keeping in mind that the BiH institutional budget for 2012 was adopted under protest by the Party of Democratic Action in all BiH institutions, I call on you to initiate action for the dismissal of ministers and deputy ministers from the ranks of the SDA (Messrs. Sadik Ahmetovic, Muhamed Ibrahimovic, and Fuad Kasumovic). This arises from the fact that they themselves did not offer their resignation as is usual democratic practice in such situations", Lagumdzija stated.

"In the expectation of rapid action on this issue, we will in good time present to you the names of new candidates for ministers and deputy ministers, in keeping with the procedures prescribed in the Constitution of BIH and the Law on the Council of Ministers of BiH," Lagumdzija's letter to Bevanda reads.

The SDA believes that with such a frivolous and irresponsible decision, SDP caused a political crisis at all levels of government, which directly harms the interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens.

Chairman of the Presidency of BiH and Vice President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) Bakir Izetbegovic said that the SDA-SDP coalition will survive if rational reasons prevail.

"With great difficult we formed this coalition. Negotiations lasted a long time while we built the coalition from the cantonal to the entity to the state level. Now only irrational reasons, such as vanity, a wish for domination and to listen to one another could destroy it," Izetbegovic said.

Chairman Izetbegovic does not consider threats by political partners of the SDP that the SDA will be thrown from power due to their opposition to the state budget to be serious, and reports that the SDP cannot find an alternative to the SDA.

"The SDA on principle did not support the budget. The funds for this year's NATO plan are not provided, and we want a MAP. The state budget falls, but at the same time there is growth in the entity budgets. The Republika Srpska budget has grown 86 percent in the past few years.
Airplanes are being purchased, lobbying firms are being paid, some parallel representations are being opened around the world, and that fits," Izetbegovic said.

He added that SDA representatives were not included when the fiscal framework was prepared and when the budget was defined.