Politics of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serb Republic (RS) President Milorad Dodik has said that he "accepts help from Serbia and Europe" so that a planned referendum "would not have to be held."

A Western diplomat told BIRN on Wednesday that Dodik's letter explaining his motives for a proposed referendum challenging the authority of the state judiciary and the international High Representative's office for Bosnia and Herzegovina, both of which he believes are biased against Serbs, has been ignored by international officials.

Bosniak delegates to the Council of Peoples in the Republika Srpska assembly on Thursday used their veto powers to block the assembly's decision last week to hold a referendum on the authority of the state judicial institutions and the Office of the High Representative.

RS President Milorad Dodik says he is "not against" reaching a compromise when it comes to a referendum on state-level judiciary in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"If a solution is found parliament could again be deciding on that," Dodik told public broadcaster of the Serb entity RTRS.

Wednesday's visit of Bosnia's tripartite presidency to Serbia is a joint attempt of Bosnian and Serbian leaders to mend relations between the two countries, which suffered another blow with the recent attack on Serbian Premier Aleksandar Vucic in Srebrenica, Bosnian official told media.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will on Friday meet with Milorad Dodik, president of the Serb Republic (RS) - the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

This has been announced from the cabinet of the Serbian prime minister.

The assembly of Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, voted on Wednesday to hold a referendum on confidence in the country's state justice system and the authority of the international community's High Representative.

The holding of a referendum in the RS on state-level justice institutions is a matter of Bosnia's internal politics, the Russian embassy in Sarajevo has said.

A statement on Thursday said that it is known the Serb entity, the RS, has objections to the justice system in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The U.S. embassy in Bosnia is "alarmed at the direction in which this planned referendum is taking the Republika Srpska (Serb Republic; RS) as an entity."

The embassy said it saw the referendum as "a threat to the security, stability, and prosperity of Bosnia-Herzegovina."

Members of the Assembly of the Serb Republic (RS) have adopted a decision to call a referendum "on High Representative-imposed decisions."

This "particularly" concerns the decisions about the Court and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia-Herzegovina.