Fourteen months after the general election, Bosnia finally got its government, Monday, after the State House of Representatives adopted all the ministers except the Human Rights and Refugees Minister, who will be elected at a later date.

With 29 votes in favour, eight against and one abstained vote, the new Council of Ministers, as the government is called, was elected and sworn in.

The new ministers are Vjekoslav Bevanda from the Croat Democratic Party (HDZ BiH) as Finance Minister, Ankica Gudeljevic (HDZ BiH) as Civil Affairs Minister, Josip Grubesa (HDZ BiH) as Justice Minister, Vojin Mitrovic from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) as Communications Minister, Stasa Kosarac (SNSD) as Foreign Trade Minister, Fahrudin Radoncic from the Alliance for the Better Future (SBB) as Security Minister, Bisera Turkovic from the Democratic Action Party (SDA) as Foreign Affairs Minister, and Sifet Podzic from the Democratic Front (DF) as Defence Minister.

Bosnia did not have a new government – officially called the Council of Ministers – formed since the October 2018 election, and the previous ministers have since then been serving their posts in technical mandates.

This is because the Bosniak and Croat members of the tripartite Presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic and Zeljko Komsic, respectively, refused to vote for the new candidate for Chairman, who was supposed to come from the party of Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik.

At the centre of the deadlock was a document Bosnia was supposed to send to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, the Annual National Programme (ANP), which would be the next step on Bosnia’s path toward membership in the alliance – it would activate the country’s Membership Action Plan (MAP).

NATO remains unpopular with Serbs in both Serbia and in Bosnia’s Serb-majority semi-autonomous entity of Republika Srpska (RS) since the alliance launched airstrikes against the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 Bosnian war and against the Serbian military in 1999 during the conflict between Belgrade and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Although it agreed to Bosnia joining NATO about a decade ago, Dodik’s SNSD changed its mind in recent years and refused to let the country make any step toward membership. In line with neighbouring Serbia, Republika Srpska adopted a Resolution on Military Neutrality in 2017 which means it opposes membership in any military alliances.

But Komsic and Dzaferovic argued that not sending the document would breach earlier decisions and the law and they insisted that unless it is sent, they will not vote for Tegeltija.

The Bosniak and Croat Presidency members finally expressed support for Tegeltija in late November, following a joint meeting with ambassadors of the United States, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia.

In return, the Serb Presidency member supported a document called the Reform Programme outlining the program of reforms in the field of defence and security, which was sent to NATO, instead of the ANP. This new document is said to be acceptable to NATO as if it was the original ANP.