Čović Criticizes Forto Over BHRT and Drivers: But His Son-in-Law Primorac's Second and Final Term as BHANSA Director is Also Ending

(Patria) - The second five-year term of BHANSA Director Davorin Primorac expires on March 25, and an attempt to change the Law on BHANSA to allow unlimited terms for management was thwarted in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, while amendments were adopted in the House of Peoples of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. There was no new attempt, and the amendments would have had to be proposed again by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of BiH, headed by Edin Forto.

In a statement to the media, the leader of HDZ, and also Davorin Primorac's father-in-law, yesterday particularly lashed out at Edin Forto, whose name he did not even utter, but stated that he is not doing his job.

"He was supposed to resolve BHRT, he was supposed to resolve the issue of drivers, why doesn't he come up with an initiative to the Council of Ministers?", Čović asked.

However, it is certain that the reason for Čović's dissatisfaction also lies in the fact that the issue of BHANSA has not been resolved, and its operations are being reviewed by the Committee on Transport and Communications of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly.

Primorac twice avoided public hearings because he was on sick leave, and in December 2025, he tried to prevent BHANSA from being discussed at all by this Committee, sending a sharp letter to the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH Borjana Krišto, the EU Delegation, the OHR, and the Committee itself.

In this letter, which Patria had access to, Primorac states that the failure to adopt the Law on Amendments to the Law on BHANSA has put not only BHANSA but also the civil aviation sector in a position of serious operational and security challenges.

"The inability to establish services in the "U-space" airspace, for the purpose of safely managing a large number of drones, which is only foreseen by the amendments to the Law, has particularly serious consequences. Drone management represents a key security mechanism that enables the monitoring, control, and integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the airspace. In a situation where these services are not and cannot be implemented, drones remain unidentified objects in an airspace where air traffic also takes place. This creates a special type of risk for aircraft operating at low altitudes, as well as commercial aircraft during approach and departure. We note that there is a large number of aircraft in Bosnia and Herzegovina that fly intensively at low altitudes, including a large number of helicopters, light aviation, and sports aircraft. It is particularly important to mention that the Helicopter Service of the Government of Republika Srpska has several helicopters that are regularly used in rescue, medical, and other emergency interventions, i.e., flights that usually take place precisely at low altitudes, where unmanned aerial vehicles without adequate supervision can pose a direct threat to safety", stated Primorac.

He noted that incidents have already been recorded, where several situations have been documented in which drones posed a threat to air traffic safety.

"Through a letter from the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we were informed about the recording of several unauthorized drone flights in the wider area of Butmir Airport, as well as above military-sensitive locations, "Rajlovac" and "Butile". The Ministry of Defense clearly pointed out that these are flights that could not be identified by existing surveillance means, and that such activities pose a threat to the military-controlled area and require urgent institutional coordination. These cases further confirm how serious the consequence of the absence of an established drone management system is, since without U-space services, timely recognition, tracking, and regulation of the presence of unmanned aerial vehicles in airspace where civil and military traffic takes place simultaneously cannot be ensured. Precisely because of this, the problem of not adopting the Law is not just a regulatory issue, but directly affects the ability of competent institutions to prevent situations that could jeopardize flight safety of both civil and military nature", stated Primorac.

He accused the Committee of contributing to the endangerment of civil aviation in BiH and the disruption of the system's safety by voting against the proposed amendments to the Law.

Regardless of whether the amendments to the Law on BHANSA are adopted or not, this institution should get a new director after ten years. And if Forto does not again submit the Law on Amendments to the Law on BHANSA to the procedure, then Forto should certainly seek for a competition for the director of BHANSA to be announced. The competition is announced by the BHANSA Council, headed by Edin Forto's chief of staff, Sanja Škuletić-Malagić.