European “rules” for the entry of the states into the Union, and lawlessness for the countries inside the block
- For years, the Council of Europe has not reacted to Bulgaria’s behavior and its obligation to implement the 14 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, so instead of taking any steps, it constantly gives some deadlines to the Bulgarian authorities to fulfill their obligations, threatening to exclude the country from this body. Oficial Sofia knows that this will not happen, so it most brazenly ignores such requests
Once a precedent is set and passed, then it becomes the normal course of conduct and practice for all those who are comfortable with such conduct. The reasons for the collapse of international law and the institutions that should implement it should be sought here.
Of course, one of those bodies is the Council of Europe, which for years has done nothing to sanction countries that do not adhere to international legal principles and the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as other bodies under its authority, but only states certain situations, threatens to exclude a country, so that in the end everything is reduced to just giving some deadlines, which are repeatedly postponed indefinitely.
When that way of working becomes practice, then there is no reason for countries to take too seriously the messages coming from the top men of this body and generally fear that they might be excluded from membership.
The Council of Europe told BiH: Implement the judgments of the court if you want in the EU
Recently, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berse, called on the BiH authorities to take seriously the obligation to implement all judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), warning that this is a necessary step if that country wants to progress towards membership in the European Union. So far, this court has issued a dozen judgments that have marked BiH as responsible for violating the electoral rights of its citizens, and the most famous is the one in the “Sejdić-Finci” case, which already in 2009 established that members of national minorities are discriminated against because they are not allowed to run for the Presidency of BiH.
They cannot even be elected to the House of Peoples of the state parliament, where seats are reserved only for people who identify themselves as Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs. That judgment, as well as a series of other later similar judgments, has not been implemented to date.
After the meeting with the members of the BiH Presidency, Berse said that he expects this situation to change, although it is not a simple task, but the Council of Europe can help in this.
– We are determined to help Bosnia and Herzegovina and we know that it is a challenge – Berse said.
He added that it is important to build a system of common values for everyone in Europe, which will be applied in all EU countries, but also in those that intend to become members.
When precedents become normal behavior
Regardless of how convincing the words of the head of the Council of Europe sound, the BiH authorities will certainly not be too affected because they are aware that many EU member states have been ignoring such and similar recommendations for years.
Namely, for years, Bulgaria has not implemented the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights related to the rights of the Macedonian community in this country, and the reaction of the Council of Europe is reduced only to giving deadlines, in sight.
Recently, the first person of the Council of Europe, Berse, expressed surprise at the questions put to him by the Macedonian delegation during the second regular session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which was held from April 20 to 24 in Strasbourg, and which related to freedom of movement and the protection of human rights advocates.
MP Ivanka Vasilevska addressed a direct question to Berse regarding the case of lawyer Toni Menkinoski, who was sentenced to a ten-year ban on entering Bulgaria. She emphasized that this is a serious precedent, given that he actively represents cases of Macedonians in Bulgaria before the European Court of Human Rights.
An additional problem is that for years the Council of Europe has not reacted to Bulgaria’s behavior and its obligation to implement the 14 judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, so instead of taking any steps, the Council of Europe constantly gives some deadlines to the Bulgarian authorities to fulfill their obligations, threatening to exclude the country from this body. Oficial Sofia knows that this will not happen, so it most brazenly ignores such requests.
Therefore, when precedents already exist, Berse’s messages to the Bosnian authorities are like an ordinary echo that quickly disappears.
Berse trains strictly in BiH, while they are in Bulgaria tolerates legal obscurity
Seen through the eyes of legality, when the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alen Berse, says in the middle of Sarajevo that the implementation of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is a “ticket” for the European Union, it sounds like a fair and logical lesson in democracy. But in reality, this message is nothing but a faint echo of an institution that is finding it increasingly difficult to hide its own deficit of authority. That is why the dilemma legitimately arises as to why Bosnia and Herzegovina would take Berse seriously, when its organization has for decades failed to force even its own member countries, such as Bulgaria, to respect the same international law.
Namely, the “Sejdić-Finci” case has been a painful wound of the Bosnian system for years, but the case of the 14 unenforced judgments of the Macedonians in Bulgaria is direct evidence of the capitulation of the Council of Europe to political pragmatism. While “inevitable conditions” are being set for Sarajevo, for years Sofia has only been served endless deadlines, which move into the distance. Threats of exclusion from the Council of Europe have long since become a story in which no one believes anymore.
The height of this cynicism was seen last week in Strasbourg. While Berse talks about common values, he did not even know that the lawyer Toni Menkinoski, who represents the Macedonians before the ECtHR, received a ten-year ban from entering Bulgaria. This is not only a diplomatic scandal but also a brutal attack on the right to protection and the legal profession. The fact that the head of the Council of Europe expressed “surprise” at such questions is perhaps the best confirmation of the institution’s blindness.
Once you allow precedent to become practice, you are not protecting the right – you are legalizing lawlessness. The Council of Europe today looks more like a body for ascertaining situations than a guardian of conventions. Every new deadline given to Sofia is a direct signal to Sarajevo that the rules are a stretch category. If the Council of Europe wants to be taken seriously in BiH, it will first have to show its teeth where it is most difficult – among its “privileged” members. Until then, Berse’s messages will only be nicely packaged rhetoric that ends up in the blind alley of Balkan reality.
Weitz: There is an agenda behind the publication of the Euronews interview
The rapporteur for Macedonia in the European Parliament, Thomas Weitz, says that the interview from which his statements were transmitted last week, given to the Bulgarian editorial office of “Euronews”, was recorded more than seven weeks ago, and that it is not clear why that interview was published only now. Weitz says that he gave that interview at the beginning of March, and the evaluations he gave in it then reflected the current situation.
– The interview is from more than seven weeks ago and shows the assessment of the momentum at the beginning of March – he says.
Weitz adds that he is surprised that the Euronews interview was published a few days ago.
– I don’t think it’s very professional, we were told otherwise. I was a little surprised that it was posted a few days ago. But yes, unfortunately it seems that there is some kind of agenda behind it – said Weitz in an interview for “Channel 5”. ST.
