Motion for a resolution - B8-1350/2015Motion for a resolution
B8-1350/2015
European Parliament

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement

14.12.2015 - (2015/2979(RSP))

to wind up the debate on the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
pursuant to Rule 123(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Georg Mayer on behalf of the ENF Group

Procedure : 2015/2979(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
Document selected :  
B8-1350/2015
Texts tabled :
B8-1350/2015
Debates :
Votes :
Texts adopted :

B8‑1350/2015

European Parliament resolution on the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement

(2015/2979(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to the Cutileiro Plan, the Vance-Owen Plan, the Owen-Stoltenberg Plan and the Contact Group Plan,

–  having regard to the Washington Agreement, signed on 1 March 1994[1],

–  having regard to the Dayton Peace Agreement and the 12 annexes thereto, in particular Annexes IV and X, which were initialled on 21 November 1995 in Dayton and signed on 14 December 1995 in Paris[2],

–  having regard to the Bonn Conclusions resulting from the Peace Implementation Council held in Bonn on 9 and 10 December 1997[3],

–  having regard to paragraph 13 of Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1384 (2004)[4],

–  having regard to paragraph 1 of Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1592 (2007)[5],

–  having regard to the Special Report of the High Representative to the Secretary-General of the UN on the Implementation of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina of 4 September 2015[6],

–  having regard to the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR) of 16 December 2015 on the 20th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement,

–  having regard to Rule 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas after the conflict the international community and the political actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) were aware that the country’s survival within the fixed boundaries known as the AVNOJ borders depended on radical decentralisation;

B.  whereas the Dayton Peace Agreement meant the end of the war and established a completely new internal structure in BiH, in terms of both the electoral process and the functioning of its institutions, in accordance with the Geneva and New York principles of September 1995;

C.  whereas in the 20 years since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement the BiH Constitution has been ‘massively devastated’ by members of the international community and a number of local actors, including the High Representative for BiH, the BiH Constitutional Court and the UN Security Council;

D.  whereas both Articles 3.5 and 3.3(a) of the BiH Constitution are being used by the BiH Constitutional Court and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) to legitimise unauthorised violations of the Dayton Peace Agreement on quasi-legal grounds;

E.  whereas Annex 4 to the Dayton Peace Agreement was subject to an illegal revision, against the will of the signatory parties and outside the procedures established by the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties;

F.  whereas the OHR, which was created as an ad hoc international institution, lacked the authority to impose the centralisation of a wide range of functions in defiance of BiH’s Dayton Constitution, which reserves all but a few competences for the Entities;

G.  whereas the transfer of competences from the level of the Entities by the High Representative, resulted in a shift from 7 joint institutions to 70 institutions employing almost 23 000 people;

H.  whereas the OHR adopted a decision on 12 November 2000 imposing the Law on the State Court of BiH ‘until such time as the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts this law in due form, without amendments and with no conditions attached’;

I.  whereas since 2000 the OHR has issued decrees removing and banning from public employment nearly 200 BiH citizens, including elected presidents, legislators, judges and other officials, and has routinely issued decrees removing politicians from office, banning them from public employment, seizing travel documents and freezing bank accounts;

1.  Reminds local political leaders that reforms focusing on inefficient, ineffective or inconsistent laws and institutions are needed; highlights the need for measures to protect political, civil and human rights, calls for the rule of law to be restored, and encourages leaders in BiH to make significant efforts to implement the political system envisaged in the Dayton Constitution;

2.  Stresses that the OHR, as a non-elected political authority, can no longer impose laws without any possibility of appeal or any input from an independent body; urges that Annex X to the Dayton Peace Agreement be reaffirmed;

3.  Calls for the necessary measures to be implemented to ensure that the Dayton Peace Agreement is upheld, and to stop any attempts to change or relativise the international Dayton Peace Agreement, including attempts to impose laws relating to the court and prosecutor’s office;

4.  Calls on the Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to respect BiH’s democratic institutions, its sovereignty and the will of its people;

5.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Presidency and Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Legal notice - Privacy policy