Presidency against moving embassy to Jerusalem, Dodik against Kosovo recognition

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The Bosniak and the Croat members of the tripartite Presidency voted on Thursday against a proposal made by their Serb colleague for the country’s embassy to be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Right after that, the Serb member voted against an initiative for Bosnia to recognize the independence of Kosovo.

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik proposed the embassy to move following the foreign policy of neighbouring Serbia after Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic agreed in Washington to move the Serbian embassy to Jerusalem.

Bosnian Croat and Bosniak Presidency members, Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaferovic, respectively, voted against the initiative so no decision was adopted.

“I think that was the right move by the Presidency as it’s in accordance with the international obligations which Bosnia has regarding this issue,” Dzaferovic said after the session.

The proposal to recognize Kosovo came from Komsic and was supported by Dzaferovic but rejected by Dodik.

In order for any decision to be made in Bosnia’s Presidency, a consensus must be reached between all three Presidency members.

Dzaferovic said there would be another round of voting on the matter.

“If the vote turns out the way it did today, then Mr. Dodik has a right to launch the mechanism of vital entity interest,” Dzaferovic said, referring to the constitutional mechanism which enables representatives of one of the two semi-autonomous entities in the country – in this case, the Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) – to veto any state-level decision that is deemed damaging to the interest of the entity.