Alen Zulić appointed acting director of 'Una' National Park without tender and illegally

(Patria) - Alen Zulić, a councilor in the City Council of Bihać, has been appointed acting director of the public enterprise 'Una' National Park without a public tender and in clear violation of the law.

Although the Law on Conflict of Interest in Public Authorities of FBiH is clear and does not allow elected officials to be appointed to the management or as authorized persons in public enterprises, the Government of the Federation of BiH, at its session in April this year, approved the decision of the Supervisory Board of JP 'Una' National Park from Bihać to appoint Alen Zulić, a city councilor in Bihać, to the position of acting director of this public enterprise.

As this involves the appointment to incompatible functions, which cannot be reported because there is still no competent body for conflict of interest in the Federation of BiH, TI BiH, immediately after learning this, contacted the Government of FBiH with a request for the supervisory board to clarify this decision. The response stated that the members of the supervisory board "did not have information that he does not meet the formal-legal conditions because a tender procedure is not conducted for the appointment of an acting director" and that the appointed person (Zulić) was informed of the provisions of the Law on Conflict of Interest and incompatibility of functions he held at that moment immediately after taking over the position of acting director.

TI BiH also contacted the management of 'Una' National Park with a request to explain the appointment of a person to obviously incompatible functions, to which this enterprise stated that the supervisory board took into account formal-legal conditions when appointing, and that general and specific conditions for the election of a director are not considered when appointing to the position of acting director.

Such an interpretation represents a dangerous precedent, as it leads to the conclusion that anyone can be appointed as acting director, regardless of the conditions prescribed by law. Furthermore, there is no legal provision that supports such an approach, because formally, and in practice, acting directors have identical powers as directors of public enterprises appointed in "full capacity".

TI BiH also contacted the City Council of Bihać regarding this case with an inquiry as to whether Alen Zulić informed the Central Election Commission of BiH (CEC) and the local parliament upon his appointment to the position of director of the public enterprise.

The response stated that Zulić provided information about his appointment to the Speaker of the City Council on June 28, 2024, i.e., two months after his appointment, and that the CEC accepted the termination of his mandate in the City Council of Bihać.

However, this did not resolve the issue of the controversial appointment, as the Law on Conflict of Interest does not allow elected officials to be appointed to the management of public enterprises for six months after the end of their term. Therefore, Alen Zulić was in conflict of interest not only when he became acting director, but also at the moment he returned his mandate in the city council, as the necessary six months had not passed for his appointment to be considered legally acceptable.

Such situations are a consequence of the fact that in the Federation of BiH, since 2013, no body responsible for acting in cases of conflict of interest of public office holders has been established or appointed, which institutions have interpreted as an open space for illegal appointments, and the conflict of interest of officials cannot be practically sanctioned.

Despite loud announcements that the practice of appointing to incompatible functions would be stopped and that efforts would be made to combat conflicts of interest, the current government in FBiH, shortly after the formation of the Government, withdrew all laws from the parliamentary procedure, including the one on conflict of interest, which has never been returned or adopted, even though this area is one of the key priorities set by the EU for BiH.