Bosnia and Herzegovina has not had a budget for more than seven months and has been on temporary financing for that long. It is not yet known exactly what the final proposal will look like, as well as how much money will be allocated to whom. At the same time, budget users are suffering due to disagreements between government representatives in institutions. The budget will be discussed today by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it is already known that Presidency member Željka Cvijanović will oppose the proposal.
If the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts the draft budget by a majority vote, the document is submitted to the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. However, given the disagreements and the complicated political situation, it is difficult to expect that the most important financial document will be adopted.
“I put the budget on the agenda twice, it was decent, it was made with moderation, it was rational, it was realistic and it was constitutional. This one is unconstitutional, it contains unconstitutional elements and it was created as a result of manipulation to first wait for the intervention of a certain Christian Schmidt, and then after that my colleagues say, well now the conditions have been created for us to adopt the budget. Feel free, just go ahead, this is a path into a dangerous area,” said Cvijanović.
What the new version of the budget contains, and which is not supported by the Minister of Finance of BiH Srđan Amidžić, is more than 30 million for the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 22 million for BHRT, and eight million for cultural institutions.
The Presidency of BiH sends the final budget proposal to the parliamentary procedure, and in order for it to enter into force, it must be adopted in both houses.
“If Mr. Amidžić says he is against it, it means that the SNSD will not be in favor of the budget, and probably the HDZ will not either. If there is no majority, the Presidency can establish any proposal, and send a proposal every time and every week, if it cannot pass both houses of Parliament, it is useless, we will still not have a budget,” says economist Svetlana Cenić.
Due to the damage suffered by employees due to the failure to adopt the budget, the Trade Union of the State Investigation and Protection Agency has called on trade unions at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina to jointly file criminal charges against those responsible in the institutions of BiH. They are also supported by the Trade Union of the Border Police.
“Imagine that 23 thousand employees do not receive the salary that was projected by the increase in the base itself, which was raised from 600 to 631.5 marks, and these two laws that were adopted, one in both houses of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, the other in the House of Representatives. That is 250 to 300 marks on a monthly basis for a basic police officer. All these funds will flow into the budget reserve funds that will ultimately be distributed by political entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina as they do at the end of each budget year,” said Dragan Matović, president of the BiH Border Police Union.
The IDDEEA also pointed out the problems, claiming that in the coming period, there could be an interruption in the receipt of biometric data, if funds are not secured and the procurement of equipment is not carried out on time.
The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously returned the budget proposal for further work, and for eight months the institutions have been on temporary financing.
