At today’s session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the ministers of the HDZ and SNSD outvoted the Bosniak ministers and adopted the proposal of the Minister of Finance Srđan Amidžić (SNSD) to pay 116 million BAM from the profits of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the debt to the Slovenian company “Viaduct”, it was confirmed to N1.
As they were unofficially confirmed, Sevlid Hurtić, the Minister of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konaković, were outvoted at the session, and this is Amidžić’s proposal to adopt a new budget in which the profits of the Central Bank will be distributed to pay off the debt in the “Viaduct” case.
However, this proposal, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will now be confirmed by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it is increasingly certain that it will not receive support. Some politicians have already opposed this proposal, such as Nermin Nikšić, Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, and Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, Toni Kraljević, since this distribution refers to withdrawing 200 million BAM from the profits of the Central Bank of BiH, and after paying off the debt to Viaduct, 90 million BAM would be distributed to the entities.
Amidžić’s proposal states that 59 million BAM would go to the Federation of BiH, and 29 million BAM to the Republika Srpska.
Likewise, the debt that would be paid off to Viaduct in this way would withdraw the most funds from the federal budget, which is why representatives of this level of government are protesting.
It is also important to point out that from the beginning of this story, Borjana Krišto, Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of BiH (HDZ), was in favor of making corrections to the state budget and allocating money to pay off the aforementioned debt.
Edin Forto, Minister of Transport and Communications of BiH, and Minister of Defense of BiH Zukan Helez, who is also the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers, were not present at today’s session of the Council of Ministers of BiH. The two are on their way to the USA.
When it comes to the Viaduct case, it is important to point out that this is, as already stated, a debt of the RS Government, which is now more than 110 million BAM, since the daily interest amounts to 18,000 BAM.
However, the problem arose when the Government of Republika Srpska did not honor the contract on granting the concession for the construction of hydroelectric power plants to this company.
A dispute followed before the Arbitration Council in Washington, and then a verdict in favor of Viaduct. According to the Agreement signed in 2017, the Government of Republika Srpska unconditionally committed to paying all fines. The Agreement was signed by Željka Cvijanović, the then Prime Minister of RS. The outstanding debt is already causing huge problems for BHANSA, as it will not be able to receive funds from Eurocontrol.
In addition, the Central Bank of BiH is also collateral damage in this process, and a formal notification has already been received from the Municipal Court in Mostar to seize its property in this city.
