The Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina has called decisions made by Republika Srpska's National Assembly illegal and unacceptable and said Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik was "first and foremost" responsible for the move.
The National Assembly on June 27 passed a law saying that rulings and decisions by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia will not be enforced or applicable in the Republika Srpska entity.
SEE ALSO: Republika Srpska Assembly Votes To No Longer Publish Decisions Of Bosnia High RepresentativeA majority of lawmakers in the assembly -- led by Dodik's Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) with backing in part by the opposition -- agreed that the decisions and acts of the Constitutional Court would not be implemented on their territory until a nationwide law on the court had been adopted by the national parliament.
The vote was the latest in a series of political moves engineered by Dodik, who has long campaigned for secession from the country's central institutions.
The OHR, responding on June 28 on Twitter, said the move was "an unacceptable offence against the Dayton agreement, a serious challenge to the rule of law in the [Republika Srpska], and an assault on the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina."
The OHR emphasized that Republika Srpska has to respect its obligations under the Dayton agreement, which ended the 1992-95 Bosnian War, to fully respect the constitutional and legal order of Bosnia.
Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik
High Representative to Bosnia Christian Schmidt "offers political cooperation to all actors in Republika Srpska" to help it fulfill its legal obligations with the condition of full compliance with the Dayton agreement," the OHR said.
"The first step is to reject Milorad Dodik's bizarre and adventurous undermining of Dayton and Dayton institutions," the OHR said.
Dodik initiated the vote following the Constitutional Court's decision last week that altered the judicial body's rules, allowing it to convene without Serbian judges present.
SEE ALSO: Kosovo 'Tactical Game' Is A Strategic Blunder, Security Expert Charles Kupchan Warns Amid Balkan Violence"The Constitutional Court violates the constitution massively," Dodik said ahead of the National Assembly's vote on June 27. "It is completely delegitimized and led itself to the point of absurdity."
Three of the nine court members are appointed by the president of the European Court of Human Rights and six by regional parliaments.
The lawmakers also agreed that Serbian representatives in state institutions would not take part in any talks on reforms needed for Bosnia's integration into the European Union until the Constitutional Court had been reformed and the OHR had been closed down.
In addition, the National Assembly backed a veto by the Serbian member of the tripartite Bosnian presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic, on the agreement on free travel in the Western Balkans brokered by the six countries of the region. The main issue raised by the National Assembly was the introduction of visa-free travel between Bosnia and Kosovo.