At a hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Chairman Keith Self called the asserted “Bonn Powers” of the High Representative “unchecked authority” that is “legally questionable.” Self said during his opening remarks:
The rapidly deteriorating situation in Bosnia has led to an exponential increase of the use of legally questionable Bonn Powers by the High Representative. This unchecked authority which enables the High Representative to strike or impose legislation and remove officials from office was dormant from 2014 to 2021, but in recent years, their use has surged significantly.
Witness Max Primorac of the Heritage Foundation told the subcommittee regarding BiH:
Foremost, the country’s national sovereignty must be restored by dissolving the Office of High Representative who dismisses elected leaders, vetoes legislation, and bans anyone he dislikes. These unaccountable foreign bureaucrats undermine the sovereignty and legitimacy of the state, block its institutions from maturing, and poison inter-ethnic relations.
Second, the State department must end its efforts to create a centralized, Muslim-dominant state. That violates Dayton’s guarantee of equality between Bosnia’s three self-governing peoples and pushes Serbs to secede.
SRNA has additional coverage of the hearing.
