SDP Analysis: What Citizens Should Remember from 2015

Looking at the year we are leaving behind, we in the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina see things completely differently from the current government.

Namely, while SDA, HDZ, SBB, and the Alliance for Change as a coalition at the state level, or the coalition gathered around HDZ in the Federation and SNSD in Republika Srpska, each for their own level, assure us of spectacular reforms and prosperity, we believe the situation is very difficult, that we have never had such a superficial unity of Bosniak, Croat, and Serb politicians, and yet the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been more endangered – stated the President of SDP BiH Nermin Nikšić at the annual press conference, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

Nikšić said that SDP will not remember 2015 for anything good, when it comes to the overall political and economic-social environment, because the year was marked by constant changes in parliamentary majorities, and these processes are not yet over.
The government, Nikšić said, failed to cope, even though SDP, as the opposition, often helped them in the most difficult situations.

- I want to remind you that it was precisely we in SDP who, in February of this year, by signing for the candidacy of the Vice President of the FBiH, enabled the process of establishing a new government to begin. And not only in the Federation.

We saved the government a second time when we voted for the adoption of the federal Budget for 2015.

With this, we showed that, as the opposition, we are ready to respect the electoral will of the citizens, unlike those who locked offices and took official vehicles in 2011 – said Nikšić, writes NAP.

Problems in the Council of Ministers of BiH

Nikšić also reminded the journalists of the current problems in BiH. First of all, the government has a problem in the Council of Ministers of BiH because it is not complete. Namely, it is still unclear whether and who from SBB will be part of the Council of Ministers.

He also touched upon the Coordination Mechanism, which, for Nikšić, should be a technical process for coordinating views, not a tool for changing relations within the state structure and a prelude to the reorganization or division of the Federation.

- Without disputing the competencies of all levels of government, SDP will oppose the announcements of institutional equalization of cantons with higher levels of government. As experts say, the EU should be negotiated with regarding the amendment of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, not unconditionally accept everything to the detriment of the state and the economy.

I fear that by simply submitting a credible application, which, as I see it, is an idea promoted by Dragan Čović, without additional negotiations, enormous billions of KM in damage could be caused to BiH – said Nikšić. He called on institutions at all levels in the country to speed up and unblock the registration of prospective military assets, as this is a necessary prerequisite for activating the NATO Membership Action Plan.

Nikšić includes the Labor Law among the failures of the new government in the FBiH. According to him, workers have been largely disenfranchised by it, and the trade union has been humiliated and completely excluded from social dialogue.

- It was precisely this law that marked the outgoing year. Thus, the humiliation of workers and the persistent policy of the Government of the FBiH, which wants to turn workers into impoverished laborers.

This was also shown by the government's recent move and the blockade of signing the general collective agreement, because the Government considers the minimum wage of 406 KM to be too high.

Something similar is happening in RS right now, yesterday and today. Thus, workers throughout BiH are humiliated, and everything is being done to accommodate only the owners of capital. This is the only concrete result of the government in the past year.

The Government of RS, like the previous Government of the FBiH, has once again shown an unacceptable degree of disrespect for workers and citizens of BiH, who, with an incredible dose of arrogance, protect only the interests of capital owners, and that workers, according to the opinion of that same government, should work for the most miserable wages in Europe.

We in SDP were against such Labor Laws and will continue the political struggle to change such legal solutions as soon as possible.

Sale of Assets

The SDP leader believes that after this part of the job is completed, the government intends to sell off all resources, and the beginning of this story is the sale of so-called minority stakes, which is next in the FBiH.

- All this is being done without any analysis of justification, no one is talking about the price that will be asked, but it will apparently be sold just to be sold and to plug budget holes.

Nikšić reminded journalists that SDP was also against the amendment and supplement to the Law on Civil Service of the FBiH, which will certainly lead to the privatization and politicization of the civil service.

- The adoption of this law has led to political parties determining senior civil servants and determining tender procedures. All this will contribute to the deterioration of transparency in the work of civil servants, which means that with the adoption of this Law, the process of political banditry over public administration has begun.

Precisely because of this, all public investments in the FBiH have been halted. The current government inherited 600 million KM ready for investment in the continuation of highway construction from the previous one. They haven't spent a single mark yet. No one is talking about this, but one year has already been lost. We built 20 kilometers of highway annually, the current government is unable to build even a meter.
The pension fund is maintained by loans from public companies, and pensions are delayed by up to 20 days.

The current government signs agreements on regular payment of pensions which it does not respect. We signed agreements on pension increases.

For Nikšić, 2015 will also be remembered as a year of constant fear for pensioners about whether and what kind of pensions they will have?

Nikšić has no doubt that 2015 is also a year of success for the policy of Dragan Čović and HDZ, who received much more than they expected, all thanks to the leniency of Bakir Izetbegović and SDA.

- Almost all key positions in BiH are controlled by HDZ cadres, and almost all laws that are adopted contain a third-entity clause. That is, these laws already function as if a third entity exists. For example, federal inspectors can no longer control undeclared work in cantons, which is also a merit of the Labor Law.

If this policy of SDA and Bakir Izetbegović continues, we will have ethnic constituencies next year and a completed third entity. Whoever does not see this has a problem, or such a division of BiH is actually their goal.

In addition to this, we are witnessing the complete party privatization of entire sectors, and the freshest example is the attempt to place healthcare in the Canton of Sarajevo under the direct political-family control of the SDA leadership, through the story of merging the Clinical Center and the General Hospital in Sarajevo.

In the FBiH, in this year, Nikšić further states, the Special Departments of the Federal Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Court for the fight against corruption and organized crime have not been established, although it was a legal obligation.

- They will not be established next year either, because the Government did not want to allocate funds in the budget for these purposes. This clearly indicates how this government views the fight against corruption and organized crime.

That is why the Government has provided one million KM in the Budget for the Federal Police Administration for certain investigative actions, i.e., for the procurement of additional listening equipment. Why are new listening devices being purchased and whom do they intend to listen to? That is a question to which we have not yet received an answer.

Good Laws in 2015

This year, Nikšić said, will also be remembered for some positive things, such as the application of the Law on Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Assets.

- This is a law that SDP fought for for 15 years. In the very first year of its application, the results exceeded everything that was done in the past 15 years, because more than 5 million KM worth of assets have already been blocked, and proceedings for their confiscation are underway. In the case of Bosnalijek alone, the confiscation of more than 20 million KM of illegally acquired assets is being sought.

We in SDP call on judicial bodies to apply this law as much as possible because it is the best way to fight corruption and crime, and only by confiscating assets from criminals is the full meaning of this fight achieved.

SDP gives full support to all institutions fighting against crime and corruption, and they will always have in us a political force that will stand behind that fight, without any compromises.