An emergency session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PABiH) has been scheduled for October 15th, at which the Draft Law on the Budget of the Institutions of BiH and the International Obligations of BiH for 2025, proposed by the Presidency of BiH, is to be considered under an urgent procedure.
At the previous emergency session of the House of Representatives of the PABiH on September 24th, the House decided not to hold a discussion on the request to consider the Draft Law on the Budget of the Institutions of BiH and the International Obligations of BiH for 2025, proposed by the Presidency of BiH, under an urgent legislative procedure without the presence of representatives of the proposer.
According to the Law on Financing of the Institutions of BiH, the Draft Law on the Budget is to be submitted to the legislative procedure no later than November 1st. By now, the Draft Budget for 2026 should already be in preparation, which is still not the case, and there is no budget yet for 2025 either.
It is expected that the Budget will nevertheless be adopted by October 20th, in both houses of the PABiH, as there is no more time to wait.
Due to the failure to adopt the Budget of the Institutions of BiH and international obligations, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is conducting checks on the allegations from the criminal complaint submitted by three unions (SIPA, ITA, SPS), since 22.000 employees in BiH institutions cannot exercise their right to a salary increase due to temporary financing.
Next week, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will arrive in BiH as part of her tour of all Western Balkan countries. BiH adopted the Reform Agenda document at the end of September, and now a decision from Brussels is awaited on whether the document is sufficiently aligned for the country to withdraw funds from the Growth Plan for delegated projects.
The PABiH has still not adopted two laws requested by the European Commission – the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) and the Law on Courts (Court of BiH), which provides for the establishment of a special Appellate Division that will no longer be part of the Court of BiH.
Also, the Council of Ministers of BiH should appoint the chief negotiator with the European Union (EU), and an earlier agreement was reached that this position should go to someone from the Serb people, since the Chairwoman of the Council of Ministers of BiH comes from the Croat people, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs from the Bosniak people. The position of negotiator would also change in accordance with the rotation of these other positions.
