EU calls on Bosnian Serb parliament to reject draft law that brands NGOs as ‘foreign agents’

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The European Union has urged authorities in the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia to withdraw a draft law that brands non-profit groups funded from abroad as foreign agents. The law is to be adopted by the Republika Srpska parliament at a session starting next Tuesday. The assembly is dominated by lawmakers who are close to the mini-state’s separatist pro-Russian leader Milorad Dodik. Critics say the draft law resembles a similar one adopted by the Russian Duma on the eve of Moscow’s aggression on Ukraine. The EU’s statement on Thursday said it “strongly calls upon all members of the Bosnian Serb National Assembly to oppose this draft law, which aims to intimidate and suppress civil society organizations.”