At its session last week, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to prevent further harmful consequences for the property interests of BiH and its institutions, while respecting the provisions of the Law on Financing the Institutions of BiH and the Information of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH from the 53rd extraordinary session, ordered the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to urgently prepare and submit to the Council of Ministers of BiH by the next session, which is scheduled for today, a corrected text of the Draft Law on the Budget of the Institutions of BiH and International Obligations of BiH for 2025, in which, without increasing the framework for financing the institutions of BiH, funds will be planned for the execution of the ICSID Tribunal arbitration award in the amount of 110 million BAM.
As stated by the Council of Ministers, these corrections will not include changes to budget items related to salaries and benefits of employees, material costs and net expenditures for financial assets if they would affect the financing of the institutions of BiH.
The Council of Ministers of BiH has reached these conclusions in order to urgently proceed with the enforcement of the arbitration award under which Bosnia and Herzegovina is the defendant, which would create the conditions for initiating a recourse claim and ultimately collecting damages from the Republika Srpska.
At the same time, the Ministry of Communications and Transport is tasked with submitting to the next session of the Council of Ministers of BiH a Proposal for a Decision on Financing the Costs of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Air Navigation Services Agency (BHANSA) on a temporary basis, with the aim of enabling its uninterrupted operation and eliminating business problems.
The problems for BHANSA arose due to the enforcement process, which is a consequence of the plaintiff’s dispute with the Government of Republika Srpska, which has not settled its obligations despite a previously signed agreement with the Council of Ministers of BiH, by which it undertook to unconditionally fulfill all its payment obligations under the award rendered in this arbitration proceeding on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, upon receipt of a documented request from the Attorney General’s Office of BiH.
At today’s session, the Council of Ministers of BiH is expected to consider the Information on the Situation in the Field of Migration in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2024.
It is also planned to consider the report on the work of the institutions of the Council of Ministers of BiH for 2024, as well as the Report on the Work of the Attorney General’s Office of BiH for 2024.
Among other things, the ministers should also have before them the Proposal for a Decision on the Appointment of a Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Mixed Commission for Monitoring the Implementation of the Agreement between BiH and Croatia on Border Crossings and the Agreement between BiH and Croatia on Border Traffic.
