Thirty days until the announcement of this year’s elections. There are no indications as to whether and when the budget for this year will be adopted. After the Ministry of Finance and Treasury submitted the proposal to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and then to the Presidency of BiH – everything is up to the parliamentarians. And they showed and proved responsibility two days ago by not holding a session due to lack of quorum.
As in previous years, this one is no exception when it comes to delaying the adoption of the budget. Last year began and ended with temporary funding. The situation is the same now. But this year the stakes are much higher – holding elections.
“Here, there is the problem of politicians who want to send the message that BiH is a dysfunctional state,” said Denis Zvizdic, Chairman of the BiH House of Representatives (NiP).
“As we had a decision on temporary financing last year, so now there will be a decision on temporary financing again, but that shows how unwilling we are to fight in the parliamentary procedure for the best possible solutions, at least on things we don’t have to fight politically about,” explained Nermin Niksic, SDP deputy in the BiH House of Representatives.
A step towards the budget was the adoption of the Global Fiscal Framework. That one, for now, is made. But time is running out, and it is questionable whether there will be a budget until the elections are called.
“I would not like to prejudge anything, the regular session is planned for April 12th. We will see how it goes, ” noted Snjezana Novakovic Bursac, head of the SNSD Caucus in the House of Representatives of BiH.
“There are also rumors that the budget can be imposed by Christian Schmidt. If he does that, we will have a problem in the country in terms of the legitimacy of his credibility and the role of how it will be interpreted, “ told Mirko Sarovic, SDS deputyin the BiH House of Representatives.
Before the parliamentarians, the budget should be decided by the Council of Ministers, and then by the Presidency of BiH. The next session of the House of Representatives is scheduled for April 12th, and Friday’s session ended before it started due to a lack of quorum. Will there be enough hands and will for the budget to be adopted or is a new scandal ahead of us? None of the options are currently excluded, Federalna writes.
E.Dz.
