Milorad Dodik

But there is a considerable price to pay for these small steps towards basic functioning in the entity-level government. The larger thrust of Schmidt's proposal amounts to a sort of election gerrymandering by the Office of the High Representative, OHR.

Bosnia's top court has annulled a law adopted last year by the assembly of Bosnia's Serb-majority entity Republika Srpska, saying it could undermine the authority of the state Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices by creating separate bodies under its own authority.

Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency and head of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, the ruling party in Republika Srpska, has come under criticism after suggesting that religious officials' salaries should be paid by the entity.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Peter Szijjrt, said in Banja Luka that it is "a shame for Brussels" that the European road of the Western Balkan countries has been slowed down.

During his visit to Banja Luka in December last year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promised 100 million euros in financial assistance to Bosnia's Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska, as part of Hungary's Responsible Neighbourhood policy, to enhance stability in the region.

Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb leader and Serbian member of the tripartite state presidency, will not be running for a second mandate in October, he has clarified.

Instead, Dodik, who has been sanctioned twice by the US and once by the UK, will be running for the post of president of Bosnia's Serb-majority entity, Republika Srpska.

Serbian member of the BiH Presidency, Milorad Dodik, pointed out that no body in Bosnia-Herzegovina has given consent to the presence of any military formation, not even the British one.
Therefore, as Dodik said, they do not come to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a legal way.

Boris Johnson during his visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in April 2017. Photo: EPA/FEHIM DEMIR.

At the request of NATO Headquarters Sarajevo, a UK military counter-disinformation expert and a civilian strategic defence adviser will be deployed to Bosnia to support and train its armed forces.

Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik told media after the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled on Monday against the declaration by the Republika Srpska parliament that the entity "is going its own way and that it will continue to do what it thinks is best for it".

Dodik condemned the ruling as "completely outside the law and the constitution".

Member of the presidency of Bosnia and Hercegovina Milorad Dodik talks at the press conference. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC.

An agreement on partnership, trade and cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the UK was accepted by the Bosnian Presidency but without a consensus of all three members.