The decision on the verification of degrees in state institutions will most likely not be made judging by the announcement of Zoran Tegeltija, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Mirjana Marinkovic-Lepic, the representative of Nasa stranka (Our party) in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, says that it is terrible that Zoran Tegeltija is already announcing that the decision on checking degrees in BiH institutions will most likely not be made.
She sent the initiative back in January last year. The proposal received the support of the Constitutional and Legal Commission and was adopted by the House of Representatives and submitted to the Council of Ministers of BiH in March 2020.
Nevertheless, this institution justifies not making such a decision by the Law on Personal Data Protection, which would be violated in this case, as they believe.
“A few months ago I received answers that the Ministry of Civil Affairs sent a draft of decision to the Ministry of Justice, which gave its suggestions and comments and it was returned to the Council of Ministers. Now I asked them again to see what happened with it because it is obviously delayed. Chairman Tegeltija said in an oral answer that a decision will most likely not be made due to the protection of personal data,” Marinkovic-Lepic explained.
She is very surprised by such an answer since she has already submitted the opinion of the Ombudsman institution, which says that in this case the Law on Personal Data Protection cannot be invoked.
“These are people who get salaries from public money, and the public interest always takes precedence over the private one,” Marinkovic-Lepic said.
She added that the Council of Ministers of BiH justifies all of this with the information that they need a few more opinions.
“More than a year has passed, and they need a few more opinions? There is always some excuse,” said the interlocutor.
She points out that the check of degrees is implemented at the federal level, and wonders how it is that personal data are not endangered in that case.
Although she recalls the examples in which degrees were forged, obtained in a few days or months, she states that obviously, it is not in someone’s interest from the Council of Ministers of BiH or institutions to perform a systematic check.
“I will not give up, I will look for ways to get to that. It should not be an issue for anyone who finished college properly. For me, who got my doctorate according to all regular procedures, you can check degrees as much as you want,” Marinkovic-Lepic concluded, Klix
E.Dz.
