SARAJEVO – Bosnia’s international peace envoy decreed on Monday a regional parliament representing the Muslim-Croat population can continue to function despite a ruling it was formed illegally. The decision by the international community’s High Representative in Bosnia stressed the need for a functioning government in the Balkan nation still beset by divisions 15 years after Europe’s deadliest fighting since World War Two.
The dispute concerns the parliament for the Muslim-Croat federation, which makes up half the country with the Serb Republic in an uneasy co-existence under a weak central parliament. An election commission had ruled that the regional parliament was illegally formed, but the envoy said its future should be determined by the constitutional court.