Fuel has never been more expensive, world governments are struggling with this problem, but not Bosnia and Herzegovina. An emergency session of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on fuel excise taxes is scheduled to be held today, but there are assumptions that there will again be no quorum for the session. During that time, citizens are trying to use their cars as little as possible, as much as their daily lives allow.
Gasoline has reached the price of 2.91 BAM per liter, while diesel is at 3.69 BAM.
The drivers we surveyed tell us that high fuel prices significantly affect their budgets. However, as they say, they are adjusting because they need their cars every day. High fuel prices also threaten taxi drivers.
The Speaker of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kemal Ademović, has called an emergency session at which only the request of the House of Representatives of the state parliament to consider the Law on Excise Taxes in BiH under urgent procedure should be included. According to the delegate of this House, Zlatko Miletić, it is possible that the session will be blocked again.
“The session should start at 10:30, but from what I see and hear, I think that the SNSD delegates will not attend the session. Simply put, I think that in this way they will block once again, in essence, that we bring anything useful to the citizens of this country,” says Miletić, a delegate of the Croat People’s Club in the House of Peoples of the BiH PA.
Delegate of the Bosniak People’s Club Džemal Smajić believes that, very likely, the delegates gathered around the HDZ will not appear at the session either.
“What Dragan Čović already announced after the meeting with Kristijan Šmit, the High Representative, a day or two later he said that the session would not be held tomorrow because he was probably encouraged by the fact that he was given the green light to freely block,” says Smajić.
Delegate of the Serb People’s Club in the House of Peoples of the BiH PA, Želimir Nešković, is optimistic.
“I expect the SNSD and HDZ delegates to appear at the session. I want to believe that they have the humanity, the humanity to be able to give up those funds that the SNSD controls in the budget, as well as the HDZ, as the current government at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska,” adds Nešković.
Less than half of the price of fuel per liter goes for the product itself – the purchase of crude oil, processing and transport to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The rest are taxes, excise duties, road tolls and VAT. For now, without significant adjustments in favor of citizens.
“This part of the increased revenue from the difference from VAT could be directed and actually help everyone who, here, uses motor vehicles. As for the excise duties themselves, it would really also be a certain help, so they have two or three ways that could affect the reduction of fuel prices,” believes energy expert Almir Bečarević.
The holding of an emergency session of the House of Peoples was initiated by seven delegates to enable consideration of the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Excise Duties in BiH, which stipulates that in the event of market disruption or other justified reason, the Council of Ministers of BiH may make a decision to temporarily abolish or reduce the amount of excise duty on petroleum products.
