The Tuzla Canton Assembly has adopted the Law on Salaries and Remunerations in the Authorities of the Tuzla Canton, according to which there will be an enormous increase in the salaries and total incomes of elected officials, holders of executive functions and advisors in the bodies of legislative and executive power. The ruling majority justifies its decision by the necessary harmonization with federal regulations, while the opposition believes that the adoption procedure was non-transparent, which is why it was against it. Interestingly, the President of the Cantonal Board of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DF), Zlatan Begić, due to such adoption of the controversial law, requested the resignation of the President of the Assembly and the Cantonal Prime Minister if they do not correct the decision relating to elected and appointed politicians.
Without a public debate and according to an express procedure, the ruling parliamentary majority, led by the SDA, adopted the Law on Salaries and Remunerations in the Authorities of the Tuzla Canton. They justify all this by the necessary harmonization with federal regulations and the findings of federal auditors who warned that it is necessary to harmonize coefficients and salary grades at the cantonal level with the Law on Salaries and Remunerations in the Bodies of Government of the Federation.
“The exact same law, namely the coefficients that are related in the Federation to elected officials, to civil servants, have now been placed in the cantonal law. And that harmonizes that audit order. That salary cannot be higher, namely it is related to the Federation. Therefore, it can only be a lower base than the one determined at the Federation level,” explains the President of the Assembly of the Canton of Tuzla, Žarko Vujović (DF).
It is not yet known exactly how much the salary and income of elected and appointed politicians will increase. However, the opposition has already calculated it. Our Party claims that the salaries of representatives could increase by two thousand marks, while the total income of representatives could reach the sum of about five thousand marks. The opposition SDP, which voted against the controversial law, also warns of the key role of the parliamentary Administrative Commission, which will determine the amount of the representatives’ lump sums.
“As a bill at the session of the TK Assembly, that is, it was offered in a summary procedure, and therefore the transparency of the adoption of this law itself was violated. The fact is that there was an enormous increase in the salaries of elected and appointed officials in that context. However, it is very important to see the position of the Administrative Commission on what amount the increases will actually mean,” emphasizes SDP representative Mirela Memić.
The enormous increase in the salaries and income of politicians was also strongly condemned by the President of the Cantonal Committee of the DF, Zlatan Begić, who requested the suspension of the controversial decision. If the President of the Assembly Žarko Vujović and the Cantonal Prime Minister Irfan Halilagić do not find a legal solution to the situation within seven days, Begić requested their resignations. Vujović refused to specifically answer our question about whether he would act as his party boss asks him to: “Look, time will tell what will happen. We have not broken the law anywhere here, but we have even respected the audit.”
“It is incomprehensible that the SDA or the DF are indirectly initiating public protests when it comes to the minimum wage of a thousand marks, and that, on the other hand, we are simultaneously significantly increasing the salaries of elected and appointed officials in the Canton of Tuzla,” adds Memić.
We also asked for a comment from Prime Minister Irfan Halilagić – however, he did not answer our phone calls.
