Director of IDDEEA Resigns: Passport Problem Continues

After March 21, Bosnia and Herzegovina will not issue passports, as the country has run out of passport books. This has been officially confirmed by the Agency for Identification Documents (IDDEEA). The Director of IDDEEA, Edim Nesimi, resigned today, confirmed the Patria news agency.

Nesimi is currently on sick leave, and in a brief statement to Patria, when asked if it was true that he would resign, he said:

- I am currently on sick leave. You will be informed about everything later. Thank you for your understanding – said Nesimi.

It is evident that there is still no solution to the passport problem, and the Minister of Civil Affairs, Adil Osmanović, previously stated in an interview with the Patria news agency that everyone would do everything in their capacity to prevent citizens of BiH from being left without passports at the end of March.

In recent months, there has been much discussion in the media about this problem, for which it was already clear at the time that citizens would once again suffer the greatest damage due to the inertia of the authorities and competent institutions.

The currently valid contract with the German company Muhlbauer d.o.o. Banja Luka, which produces BiH passports, expires on March 21. The tender for passport production has already failed twice. The first time in May, and the second in November last year. The value of the passport book production contract is around 25 million KM.

The entire chaos arose after the appeal of the French company Gemalto S.A. Meudon, France, which claims that they are not competitive and that the German company, which has printed the books so far, cannot be the only one involved in this. The Appeals Office upheld the appeals of the French company on both occasions, and a new, third tender was ordered.

Precisely about this, the Minister of Security, Dragan Mektić, spoke last year, warning that the tender must be written in such a way that it allows other companies, not just one, to apply.

The French are very interested in obtaining the contract for printing passport books. They possess state-of-the-art machines that they are willing to install in BiH, thus creating new jobs.