The 2025 budget has not yet been agreed. In order to be harmonized, it is also necessary to agree on its content, which would strengthen state institutions and ensure a better material position for vulnerable users, including police officers, soldiers, and cultural institutions. There is still no political agreement, and those who have been waiting for a long time to receive the higher salaries they have earned are suffering. Institutions are also suffering because there is no money for modernization.
“Regardless of the fact that funds exist, we are suffering the most because of some political decisions there,” says Ana Mrnjavac, president of the ITUBiH Trade Union.
So, something that is technical everywhere in the world is a political issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Well, even though half a year has passed, the state is still on temporary financing and, despite promises, there will be no salary increases for about 23 thousand civil servants before the budget is adopted. The functioning of BHANSA and IDEEA is questionable, but the budget is also necessary for the Growth Plan.
“Someone doesn’t want to do their job or someone wants to prove what I was talking about – that Bosnia and Herzegovina is an economically unsustainable country. And you won’t believe it – the loudest people in the debate about BiH being an economically unsustainable country are Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić, who at the last budget session and the one before that – did not send the budget proposal for further procedure,” claims the Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH Srđan Amidžić.
Intentionally or not, Minister Amidžić is keeping quiet about the fact that one of the reasons why the BiH Presidency does not want to send the budget to the parliamentary procedure is, among other things, the Viaduct case. The Minister would pay off Viaduct’s debt from the profits of the Central Bank of BiH, which is strongly opposed by the state bank, as well as two members of the Presidency – Denis Bećirović and Željko Komšić. In addition to this, the problem is also the fact that the SNSD does not want to resolve the issue of financing seven cultural institutions, which should become budget beneficiaries. In the meantime, state-level unions have sent a letter to the Presidency of BiH drawing attention to the difficult situation, but also announcing more radical measures.
“If they ignore our demands, we will take the measures we think should be taken,” says Radenko Mirković, president of the Representative Union of Civil Servants and Police Servants and Employees in the Institutions of BiH.
The Presidency of BiH has not discussed the budget today. The Union’s request remains on hold until further notice.
“It is even worse that the state is being allowed to be in a state of blockade, and that the entities are functioning as if they have no problems and as if they are not responsible. The budget in itself would not bring any welfare, because the budget itself has very limited possibilities. There are few elements of that budget that are a deserved increase in the salaries of civil servants and employees,” says economic analyst Igor Gavran.
So far, nothing has come of the promised increase in salaries for civil servants and employees, as well as money for other projects, one of which is the introduction of new technologies in the electoral process. Although it is not news that BiH ends the year without an adopted budget, the consequences of such a decision are already visible, Federalna writes.
