In the midst of the pre-election campaign, the Administration for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced in the last few days as many as five competitions for the employment of new personnel. Officially, 263 positions of civil servants are required to be filled. The trade union warns of possible abuses of competition procedures because, among other things, electronic registration is not possible. In the meantime, there are also accusations about the uneven representation of constituent peoples in the Administration.
Five competitions for 263 jobs
Competitions for filling positions in the Head Office and four regional centers were published in the period from September 3 to 9. The Directorate for Indirect Taxation states that they have a need for additional employment, but also that they want to permanently resolve the status of certain employees who have been engaged for a long time on a fixed-term basis.
“The end of the year is approaching. We already have 80 people retired, and by the end of the year it will be 100 people,” said the director of the Indirect Taxation Administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Tegeltija.
The trade union warns against abuses
The trade union warns against the practice of temporary employment, as well as that it is likely that the party card will be a significant factor during the election.
“Contracts are terminated, and then people are kept waiting, and this has been going on for several years. The administration has a lot of unfilled positions for a long period of time, as well as those that are not filled adequately with the appropriate staff who have the appropriate level of knowledge and competence to perform these professional tasks,” stated the president of the Independent Union of Civil Servants and Employees of the Administration for Indirect Taxation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Predrag Jelača.
Federal Television has learned that several letters were sent from the Union to the Agency for the Civil Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which conducts the competition procedure, due to the impossibility of electronic application for the competition, which raises doubts about possible job-fixing.
“According to the information at the Union’s disposal and the Agency’s publicly published notices, electronic submission of applications is not possible due to technical problems in the operation of the information system. The fact that, according to the available information, the mentioned problem does not refer to a short-term interruption of the system’s operation, but lasts for several months, i.e. at least from July 2026, while the Agency at the same time continues to announce new public advertisements,” states the application of the Independent Union of Civil Servants and Employees of the ITA BiH.
Pre-election recruitment
Political scientist Mladen Bubonjić reminds that earlier pre-election cycles were also marked by competitions for employment in the state administration.
“The pre-election cycles so far have often been marked by job vacancies in the state administration and state companies in general. This is, of course, a way to reward loyalists, to reward vote gatherers, or to make some promises, or even some other projections that also concern party personnel,” Bubonjić said.
Accusations of national imbalance
The Directorate for Indirect Taxation is often under accusations that the national structure of employees is not in accordance with the norms of equal representation of the constituent nations.
“Of the four appointed assistants, none is Bosniak. Currently, 2,354 people are employed in the Administration, with the fact that Bosniaks are employed 244 less than the number established by law,” said Šemsudin Mehmedović, a member of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The director of the Indirect Taxation Administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina rejects claims about the violation of the national structure.
“We follow the national structure very carefully and we will never violate it, nor do we have a motive. The structure of assistants and directors is not defined outside of the structure of the nationality of the employees,” said Tegeltija.
And so for years. While some point to a national imbalance in the structure of employees, the management denies this. This story becomes current with every new competition in the Administration. And there is no shortage of them.
