Bevanda wrote laments to Varhelyi about the CEC but did not identify budget adoption obstructors

(Patria) - Minister of Finance and Treasury of BiH Vjekoslav Bevanda sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi after his address to the European Parliament on March 8, where he spoke about holding the General Elections in October 2022. Varhelyi called on the Ministry to provide a budget for the elections, and Bevanda felt the need to explain the facts about the current situation with the institutions' budget to the Commissioner. 

Bevanda used this address to tell the Commissioner that "constitutional and electoral reform is our strategic goal to which we are fully and dedicatedly committed, because only a legal arrangement established in this way represents a guarantee and ensures equal rights for all constituent peoples, prosperity and the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina."

"The successful completion of this process in a democratic spirit and in accordance with European standards has no alternative for us, and therefore there should be no doubt that we will persevere in it. We appreciate the efforts and dedication so far, as well as all the support you have provided to all political actors in this process, but despite that, as you state in your presentation, it remained unsuccessful. I share your opinion that a solution must be found urgently, but I remind you of the realistic assumption that for successful work it is necessary to remove elements of open obstruction from the process, which have been very present in the past period, due to which, after all, the expected hopes for successful constitutional and electoral reform have not been fulfilled," states Bevanda. 

He further states that he was "not a little surprised and concerned by the easy and unfounded statement in the continuation of your presentation, in which you imperatively instruct the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of BiH to make the institutions' budget available to the Central Election Commission for the organization of election procedures."

Bevanda tries to present his view of the election of members of the Central Election Commission to Varhelyi, stating that they were elected in an undemocratic and unlawful procedure in the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Minister even suggests to Varhelyi that such a CEC, whose legitimacy is doubted, cannot be trusted for fair, free, and inclusive elections, why not even in our case.

"There is no legal basis for any exception or privileged status for anyone, including the Central Election Commission of BiH, and therefore it is unfounded and harmful to insinuate that the minister has a mandate for any different action. Therefore, answers to these questions should be sought in the Law on the Budget of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2022. In order to arrive at this law, some preliminary issues need to be resolved, and therefore, above all, I persistently insist that, in accordance with the Law on the Fiscal Council in BiH, the Global Fiscal Framework document be adopted, based on which the Budget Framework Document could be adopted," said Bevanda, emphasizing that he will resist the atmosphere of present lobbying and pressure aimed at creating exceptions.