The round table “The Upgrade of the Bosnian Constitution Would Enable Faster European Integration” was held in the Grand Hotel in Sarajevo, on March 27, 2009.

At the beginning of the round table, Mr Vehid Sehic as a moderator, and Mr Slavo Kukic and Mr Sahbaz Djihanovic as speakers, informed the participants of the round table about the attitudes and conclusions of the participants of the previous public discussions. They also presented the attitudes and opinions of the working group of this project (CAP working group) about the directions in which the constitutional reforms in BiH should be done.

Opinions of some of the participants:

Mr Sulejman Tihic, the President of SDA and one of the actors of so-called “the Prud negotiations”, emphasised that the most important thing is how and to what extent the Constitution of BiH can be changed and that discussions like this one should be about the issues in which the consensus exists. These issues are:
- harmonisation of the Constitution of BiH with the European standards;
- defining of the issues where political will exists: authority of state and authority of entities; but also defining the issue related to divided authority of state and entities. Furthermore, there is issue of transfer of the authority from entities to the state, but there is no political will for this issue;
- functioning of the institutions – the problem of ethnic veto: the problem is ethnic veto in F BiH, which is very often being abused, and which does not have established mechanism for de-blocking. At the state level, this problem is solved by the Constitutional Court serving as de-blocking mechanism;
- defining of the issue of the Supreme Court of BiH, dual citizenship, etc.;
- the issue of the authority of the OHR, i.e. how current authorities will be transferred and to which level of authority after closing of the Office of the High Representative.

Mr Miro Lazovic (the actor of signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, in which he participated as a Chairman of the Assembly of Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina):
- he is in favour of more radical changes of the Constitution that would be in function of all nations in BiH;
- he believes that Republic of Srpska cannot keep the ethnic name, since that is not in accordance with standards of the European Union;
- the International Community, particularly the United States of America, should finish once started peace process.

Mr Damir Arnaur (the advisor of Mr Silajdzic):
- The Dayton Constitution is modern, short, democratic Constitution and it is basically good;
- The key problem in the Constitution is election of the Presidency of the state and entity voting.

Prof. Zdravko Grebo (the University of Sarajevo):
- The Dayton Constitution as a part of the Dayton Peace Agreement can not be changed formally and legally since peace agreements cannot be changed and be subject to the additions;
- The basic mistake of the Dayton Constitution is its ethnical characteristic, which is reflected and present in all segments of the society.

Prof. Cazim Sadikovic:
- the Constitutional changes should be done in a way to strengthen the state of BiH, which would create preconditions for implementation of human rights as well.
- The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is the consisting part of positive and legal regulations in BiH and it is legally stronger than other, even constitutional norms. However, due to weak state, it is not being implemented.
- Strengthening of political parties in BiH is one of important conditions for development of the democratic society and state.

Mrs Nevenka Pusara (SNSD Sarajevo):
- Republic of Srpska is not against the constitutional reforms.
- It is important to change the Election Law and to build in mechanisms that would protect authentic interests of nations in BiH by authentic politicians, representatives of these nations.

No matter if they, through their opinions presented in the discussion, find the Dayton Constitution good or not, most of the participants supported the attitudes of the CAP working group:
- The constitution and the constitutional reform must be transferred and solved in the Bosnian Parliament;
- The harmonisation of the Constitution with the international acts on human rights and European standards in inevitable;
- The definition of the directions in which the constitutional reforms should be done in order to finalise establishment of the state and to establish more functional state is unquestionable;
- The constitutional changes are the process that requires involving of not only political public, but also wider social public in that process.

The presence of the representatives of the Office of the High Representative, representative of the Hungarian embassy, Mr Tihic, Mr Silajdzic and eminent legal experts, who supported and confirmed the importance of the activities that FTC implements, confirms the fact that the process of the constitutional changes in BiH cannot be finished in the narrow political circle and without the representatives of civil society as an important sector of democratic development of every society, especially societies in transition as Bosnia and Herzegovina is.

The work of the round table was covered by all leading media, such as state television BHT1, Federal television, Independent television Hayat. They presented the information in very correct and informative way to the public in their news.