The vehicle fleets of institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina are regularly renewed, and often more than 100 thousand marks are allocated for the official cars of our politicians. In just three years, the institutions of BiH have spent 13.2 million on the purchase of official cars for the needs of officials. The most recent purchase is for the Council of Ministers of BiH, which, according to media reports, allocated 2.7 million marks for the purchase of 44 limousines. The new official limousines were purchased by the Parliament and Presidency of BiH and the National Assembly of Republika Srpska.
It is not disputed that the vehicle fleets are being renewed, but the amounts of money that are allocated for their purchase and maintenance at all levels in BiH are disputed, according to Transparency International. These are large sums, and the public does not even have a complete picture of how many official cars exist at all levels of government.
DAMJAN ŽEGOVIĆ, Transparency International BiH
“A related problem is that public procurement procedures are such that contracting authorities, that is, institutions, determine their own priorities, i.e. the goods and services they need, and prepare tender documentation in accordance with their own needs”.
That is precisely why we have a case where there is no shortage when it comes to luxury, so we once had a case where the specifications for the procurement of official cars required special ambient lighting, good sound system, leather seats, and child seat buckles.
TANJA TOPIĆ, political analyst
“Domestic officials show that they have been accustomed to living in abundance, luxury, and prosperity for all these decades. But what is even more fascinating is the lack of reaction from citizens who are barely making ends meet, who live thanks to money from the diaspora, who have to work several jobs, who mostly walk or drive in cars that are over 20 years old”.
While workers’ demands for a salary increase are regularly answered that there is no money, there is no crisis for the needs of politicians who are already overpaid.
ZORAN PAVLOVIĆ, economic analyst
“The situation, according to some analyses, is that in the Federation of BiH you have 4,000 official cars. Not even Kuwait could pay for all of that, and what I personally think in these difficult times for citizens is that every saving is mandatory because simply the weight of the economic crisis that we are in in 2025, and it will probably be even worse, must be shared by the public administration”.
The weight of the crisis is currently being borne by citizens. There are almost no politicians in this country who give up the opportunity to use an official vehicle, and it is not uncommon for them to use them for private purposes either.
