Bosnia Federation Entity Coalition Falls Apart

The Democratic Front, DF, has quit the ruling coalition in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, after the government - against the votes of DF ministers - changed the rules on the appointments of new managers for public companies.

The break-up of the ruling coalition has been dragging on for months, marked by personal rows, conflicting statements and short-lived compromises.

But the stumbling point was a dispute over the appointment of managerial structures for public companies, as well as over the regulation that placed ministers in charge of appointments in public companies in fields under their responsibility.

The two main coalition partners - the [Bosniak] Party of Democratic Action, SDA and the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ - insisted on changing the regulation so that the entire government decides on appointments to all companies.

But the DF said managerial changes should be made only to problematic companies. SDA and HDZ officials complained that although the DF had the least ministers, under the old regulation it controlled the most lucrative one of all - the Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mining. 

The crisis culminated on Thursday at a session at which SDA and HDZ ministers outvoted the DF ones and changed the disputed regulation.

Speaking after the session, Federation Prime Minister Fadil Novalic said the DF had tried to create a perception that they were fighting to remove political controls over public companies.

"In fact, what was behind it was a brutal struggle for control over these companies," Novalic said.

The DF retaliated quickly and on Thursday afternoon announced that it was withdrawing from the coalition.

"As of today, there is no longer a majority in parliament in the Federation,"...