Much was expected from the establishment of a new parliamentary majority in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, little has been done in practice. During the last year, only ten legal solutions were adopted. What characterized the new convocation were obstructions, disagreements, and blockages. All of this spilled over into the fact that important laws for citizens are not adopted, as well as the budget for 2024. Thus, the beginning of the year also brings temporary financing in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The cost of living is increasing every day, and pensioners know best how to try to survive. The straw of salvation for some of them was the government’s announcements about the adjustment of pensions. And since January. But there are no clear indications of regular or extraordinary adjustment, because everything depends on the adoption of the federal budget for 2024
REDŽO MEHIĆ, president of the Federation of Associations of Pensioners FBiH
We cannot expect significant percentages related to the regular adjustment of pensions, according to all the estimates that we put together, it can be from 3 to 5 percent, which is minor compared to what the real needs are.
Thus, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina established the Proposal of the Decision on the temporary financing of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period January – March 2024, in the amount of more than one billion and 400 million marks. Although temporary funding will be used, there is no lack of optimism in the federal government.
AMIR HASIČEVIĆ, Minister of Trade FBiH
I hope and believe that we will manage to finish it on time, if nothing else to try to make it as short as possible, if we enter that period of non-coverage, that it lasts as short as possible.
And that’s why we should have dealt with the draft budget, and not months of changes to the rules of procedure of the FBiH House of Representatives, is the opposition’s position. However, support will not be lacking, because, they say, it is in the interest of the citizens.
ADMIR CAVALIĆ, representative of the SBiH in the House of Representatives of FBiH
Will there be problems with budget support, probably not, I think there is some general consensus because it is in the interest of budget users and citizens, and that is why the budget should be supported.
Legal solutions important for citizens, businessmen and taxes are not something that the ruling party in 2023 can brag about. The work of federal representatives was marked by obstructions, disagreements, and boycotts of commission sessions. Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies were in focus, which is also the task given by the High Representative.
MLADEN BOŠKOVIĆ, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of FBiH (HDZ BiH)
“I don’t blame the opposition in a big way for their non-appearance and their opposition action, or to call it an uglier word, I am more than those who blame the government, and I am part of the government, because I think that the government must respond to the blockade and find a solution.”
And along with finding a solution, a lot of work awaits them. The most notable is the appointment of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the initiation of the procedure for the election of the director of the Federal Police Administration, as well as the adoption of fiscal laws.
MIRSAD ČAMDŽIĆ, representative of our party in the FBiH House of Representatives
For six months now, in the general narrative, the Vukoja is like a magician, while the ball is spinning, the skillful eye should be diverted to something else, and the Vukoja has never been in parliament by name and surname.
The government has priorities dictated by the HDZ, it’s clear to everyone, the condition for further work is the appointment of a wolf to the constitutional court, we don’t even have a set of fiscal laws that are necessary to stop the negative economic effects.
The opposition forecasts that a difficult and uncertain year awaits us in 2024, and this is shown, they say, by the decline in economic trends in the last two quarters of 2023, through the decline of industrial production and the closure of plants.
