Bosniak Parties Hatch Coalition Agreement in Bosnia

Fahrudin Radoncic  Photo: EPA/FEHIM DEMIR

"We did not talk about any names, as that decision will be discussed in the following weeks," Adisa Omerbegovic Arapovic, the vice president of SBB, said in Sarajevo on Thursday, answering questions about whether Radoncic was promised the Bosnian Ministry of Security.

The SDA now has the support of two parties, the SBB, led by Radoncic, and the left-oriented, Democratic Front, DF, led by the Croat member of the tripartite Bosnian presidency, Zeljko Komsic.

After the main party leaders last met in April, the only known outcome was an agreement was that the new Council of Ministers, the state-level government, would be led by a Bosnian Serb.

It was also agreed that the Bosnian Serbs would get three ministries: Human Rights and Refugees, Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and Transport and Communications.

Bosniaks would get the Foreign, Security and Defence ministries. Bosnian Croats were promised the Finance, Civilian Affairs and Justice ministries.

But the process of forming a new government has remained in deadlock, mainly over whether Bosnia should activate its NATO Membership Action Plan, MAP, an essential step toward accession to NATO.

Bosnian Serb leaders are against membership of the Western military alliance, while Bosniak and Bosnian Croat politicians support it, as BIRN previously reported.

In November 2018, Milorad Dodik, leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, and Dragan Covic, the head of Bosnia's main Croat party, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, confirmed a coalition agreement of these two parties.