The European Union (EU) Special Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and Head of the EU Delegation to BiH Johann Sattler, in the presence of representatives of eight EU embassies, yesterday presented a demarche (diplomatic initiative), that is, the EU’s position on voting on European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) resolutions to the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH, Vjekoslav Bevanda.
Considering that Minister Bevanda is the Governor of BiH in the EBRD, the EU ambassadors pointed out that the deadline for voting on two EBRD resolutions concerning the Russian Federation and Belarus expires on April 1st, 2022.
As it was pointed out during the meeting, the resolutions refer to the fact that the EBRD will not conduct new operations/loans or technical assistance in the Russian Federation and Belarus, and if possible, will suspend or cancel the disbursement of tranches in existing operations for these countries.
During the discussion on these topics, Minister Bevanda informed the participants that he was appointed Governor of the EBRD by the BiH Council of Ministers and referred these resolutions to yesterday‘s session of the Council with a proposal to adopt a conclusion supporting them.
Bevanda stressed that cooperation with the EBRD is extremely important for BiH and that it is one of the creditors that finances million-dollar projects throughout BiH, and that within its competencies and capacities it will strive to meet the deadlines set by the EBRD.
The meeting discussed the procedures for adopting the budget for this year, given that the Fiscal Council of BiH has not yet adopted the Global Fiscal Framework, which would provide parameters for creating this year’s budget in the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH, from where the urgencies for the adoption of this document were sent several times, which is the first step towards adopting the budget.
When asked by EU representatives about the financing of this year’s general elections, Bevanda said that legal procedures are clear and that the BiH Ministry of Finance and Treasury is not entering the politicking phase and will perform its duties when the necessary conditions are met, and one of the main ones is the adoption of the budget for this year.
In addition to the EU Special Representative for BiH Sattler, the meeting was attended by: Ambassador of the Republic of Italy Marco Di Ruzza, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland Jarosław Lindenberg, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain Maria Teresa Lizaranzu, Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia Ivan Sabolic, Economic Consultant at the Embassy of the Czech Republic Ondrej Picka, Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Germany Petra Sabine Kochendörfer, Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands Mina Noor, and Deputy Head of Mission, First Secretary at the Embassy of Sweden in BiH John Skoglund.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba
