Centres for Civic Initiatives on the work of the Council of Ministers: Low implementation of laws is concerning

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Centres for Civic Initiatives (CCI) presented a report on the work of the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH in the first quarter of 2018. CCI points out that the low implementation of laws in state institutions is particularly concerning.

- The first part of 2018 in BiH was marked by the refugee wave, which for the first time seriously „hit“ our country as well, catching our authorities, as expected, unprepared, as well as political conflicts over the Election Law and the extremely irresponsible behaviour of our politicians regarding the Law on Criminal Procedure.

All three cases point to the complexity of relations in the state and the problems it faces in its functioning. And to political conflicts that completely relativise the division between government and opposition. And to the obsession of actors on the political scene with party and personal interests. 

The Council of Ministers of BiH, in the 1st quarter of 2018, had the lowest intensity of work since the beginning of the current mandate. Only 11 regular sessions were held. In each month, one week passed without a session being held, although the Rules of Procedure of the Council of Ministers of BiH stipulate that sessions of the Council shall be held at least once a week (quote: „...as a rule, on a specific day or specific days of the week“). 

Nor, in terms of productivity, was the result in the 1st quarter of 2018 satisfactory. Of the 345 measures considered by the Council of Ministers in the 1st quarter of 2018, in the current mandate only on 4 occasions was a worse quarterly result achieved. 

The low implementation of laws is particularly concerning. In the total mass of measures considered, only 1.7% were laws. That is, for the first three months of 2018, only 4 laws were adopted by the Council of Ministers. 

The extent of the problem, in the context of law implementation, is perhaps most visible from the insight into the implementation of planned activities. Namely, since only 1 of the 4 adopted laws was planned by the Work Programme of the Council of Ministers for 2018, this means that by the end of the 1st quarter of this year, only 3% of the planned laws were implemented and that the 2nd quarter was entered with as many as 31 unimplemented laws from the Work Programme for 2018. 

In addition to laws, the implementation of strategies also indicates that the Council of Ministers has serious problems in planning its obligations. In the 1st quarter of 2018, 3 strategies were adopted, none of which are from the Work Programme of the Council of Ministers for 2018. Namely, none of the 14 strategies planned by the Work Programme were adopted. With the deadline for implementation of two extremely important ones (the Framework Strategic Document for the Development of the Energy Sector of BiH until 2035 and the Strategy for the Development of Broadband Access in BiH) being exactly the 1st quarter of 2018. 

The non-adoption of certain laws and strategies hinders reform processes in the country, its European path, and leads to violations of obligations we have towards various international organisations. BiH, for example, still has not fulfilled its obligations from the Energy Community Treaty, which relate to the adoption of laws at the state level on the regulator of electricity and gas, transmission and market of electricity, and the establishment of a regulatory body at the BiH level for the gas market.

However, the stagnation is not complete; occasionally, some very important measure is still adopted - at the beginning of this year, the strategic plan for rural development of BiH for the period 2018-2021 was adopted, which was also adopted in parliament during the 1st quarter, and whose non-adoption in previous years caused the loss of tens of millions of euros in aid to farmers from EU pre-accession funds.

Thus, BiH will no longer be the only country in the region that does not draw money from pre-accession funds for its farmers, given that in previous years, due to the lack of the said strategy, it jeopardised its own agricultural production and jobs in the agricultural sector.

The Council of Ministers of BiH was late in fulfilling its legal and procedural obligations regarding the adoption of both key acts for its work in 2018. The Draft Budget of the Institutions and International Obligations of BiH for 2018 was adopted by the Council of Ministers of BiH on 22 November 2017, instead of no later than 15 October, thereby preventing the Presidency of BiH from timely fulfilling its obligation regarding the deadline for determining the budget proposal.

 And the Work Programme of the Council of Ministers for 2018 was adopted on 11.01.2018, instead of by the end of 2017. During the first quarter of 2018, there were no significant advances in the implementation of measures from the action plan of the reform agenda at the state level. The implementation of the revised Action Plan is proceeding at a slower pace than expected - of the 34 general measures in the Action Plan of the Reform Agenda at the level of the Council of Ministers of BiH, as of 31.03.2018, 21 measures (62%) were fully implemented, work on the implementation of 8 measures (23%) is ongoing, while a total of 5 measures (15%) were not implemented - the CCI report states.