Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Leaders of all Republika Srpska's main political parties agreed on Sunday to ask the Bosnian Serb National Assembly to initiate a referendum asking people if they support the recent decision by the Constitutional Court to abolish the annual Republic Day holiday celebrating the entity's foundation.

Twenty years after Bosnian war ended, calls are again being heard for the closure of the Office of the High Representative, OHR, the international authority in charge of implementing aspects of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.

In an official statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry recently demanded the closure of the Office.

Bosnia's State Intelligence and Protection Agency, SIPA, raided the premises of Pavlovic International Bank in the northeastern Bosnian town of Bijeljina on Wednesday.

They entered the bank "under a mandate given by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is investigating a possible case of illegal transactions", the spokesperson of SIPA confirmed to BIRN.

Serb Republic (RS) President Milorad Dodik has filed a lawsuit against himself, local media reported on Monday, according to the Tanjug agency.

The lawsuit was filed before the prosecution of the Serb entity (RS) and that of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has not recognized Kosovo and the issue will not be "opened and treated" during the current government's mandate.

This has been stated by the minister of foreign affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Igor Crnadak, who also denied that "in the coming period" one of the topics on the agenda of the Council of Ministers would be "abolition of visas for citizens of Kosovo."

Opposition parties in Republika Srpska have announced legal action against the leadership of Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity for taking out a controversial loan.

They will legally challenge legality and constitutionality of this financial transaction, opposition leaders told a session of the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Accusations and allegations are flying around the mainly Serbian entity in Bosnia as the two main political blocs shape up for a potentially decisive duel in the entity assembly.

The struggle, which has been steadily escalating, will test which of the two blocs now controls the almost evenly divided assembly ahead of the 2016 local elections.

Representatives of the Bosnian state judiciary and the justice ministry in the Serb dominated Republika Srpska entity have clashes over the jurisdiction of the state court at an EU seminar.

Despite condemnation from local and regional officials, the leadership of Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, has moved ahead with holding a hotly disputed referendum on the authority of state and international institutions.

The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council said controversial Bosnian Serb plans to stage a referendum questioning the power of the state court could undermine the rule of law in the country.