The Croatian National Assembly[1][2] (Croatian: Hrvatski narodni sabor) is a political organisation of Croat political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The organisation serves as a platform to coordinate political and cultural activities of different parties and stakeholders in the Croatian community and to promote the initiative to create a federal unit with Croatian majority ("Third entity") in the country.
In 2000, the Office of the High Representative in the country imposed amendments to the Federation entity's constitution and its electoral law. Dissatisfied Croat politicians led by Ante Jelavić and HDZ set up a separate Croatian National Assembly on 28 October in Novi Travnik,[3] held a referendum parallel to the elections and proclaimed Croat self-rule in a federal unit in Croat-majority areas in the Federation (Hrvatska samouprava - "Third entity"). The attempt ended shortly after a crackdown by SFOR and judiciary proceedings.[4]
In 2010–14 Federation's Government was formed and Federation's president appointed without the consent of Croat deputies in the House of Peoples, receiving just 5 votes of confidence out of 17. In March 2011 country's Central Election Commission declared HoP's composition and decisions to be illegal, but the High RepresentativeValentin Inzko suspended CEC's decision.[5] After Croatian politician Božo Ljubić filed an appeal, finally, in December 2016 Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found the election system of the deputies in the House of Peoples unconstitutional and abrogated the controversial rules.[6] Croatian National Assembly was thus reactivated in April 2011 in Mostar[7] and started pushing for the reorganization of country and Federation, the change of the electoral system and a public broadcasting system in Croatian, focused on Bosnian Croats.[8]
Political positions
Dissatisfied with the representation of Croats in the Federation, Croat political parties insist on creating a Croat-majority federal unit instead of several cantons. SDA and other Bosniak parties strongly oppose this.[9]
In January 2017, Croatian National Assembly stated that “if Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to become self-sustainable, then it is necessary to have an administrative-territorial reorganization, which would include a federal unit with a Croatian majority. It remains the permanent aspiration of the Croatian people of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”[11]
The HNS has a 29-member Presidency, headed by Dragan Čović. HNS's 14-member General Secretariat is chaired by Božo Ljubić as the president, while Secretary-general is Josip Merdžo. The members of the General Secretariat are heads of HNS Departments. Presidency and General Secretariat are main bodies of HNS between its assembly sessions. The HNS has twelve departments.[12]
The members of HNS BiH are all Croats who are elected
Belloni, Roberto (2008). "State Building and International Intervention in Bosnia". London: Routledge. ISBN9781134059683.
Tesser, Lynn (2013). "Ethnic Cleansing and the European Union: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Security, Memory and Ethnography". Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN9781137308788.
