Federal Parliament sent a message that it does not want Sarajevo as the capital!

The Mayor of Sarajevo, Prof. Dr. Ivo Komšić, with his deputy Dr. Ranko Čović, and the President of the City Council, Sabahudin Delić, with his deputies Miro Lazović and Gradimir Gojer, held a press conference today to inform journalists about the undertaken and planned measures and activities to resolve the newly arisen problem of financing the City of Sarajevo, by adopting the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Allocation of Public Revenues in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports the BH News Agency Patria.

Namely, the City of Sarajevo faces financial collapse and thus the closure of the institution of the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because by adopting and entering into force the amendments to the aforementioned law, the Federal Parliament excluded the City from financing, and the KS Government considered itself not obliged to continue financing the City, after it paid the last installment it received as a grant on May 15, 2014.

"With the entry into force of this law, the rights of the City of Sarajevo to local self-government were violated. Namely, the Federation of BiH took over the financing of all local self-government units, with the exception that the City of Sarajevo, also a local self-government unit, was excluded from financing. At the same time, the KS Government informed us that their obligation to finance any local self-government unit in KS has ceased, and therefore the City of Sarajevo," emphasized Komšić, adding that the financing of the City of Sarajevo was planned in this law during the very procedure of its adoption (both in the draft and in the proposal), only for the financing of the City of Sarajevo to be excluded from this legal act at the session of the Federal Parliament itself.

The mayor reminded that the City of Sarajevo has been financed for years by a current grant from the Sarajevo Canton, which decreased over time, and in 2014 was reduced to a minimum of 5,300,000 KM.

"Based on that grant, we planned the City Budget for the current year 2014. However, due to the newly arisen problem with financing, the City will have difficulty realizing the planned projects and activities if something does not change," emphasized the mayor, and stressed that the Canton cannot exclude the City until it adopts a budget rebalance.

The mayor believes that key regulations and provisions were violated during the adoption of this law: the Constitution of FBiH, the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and the Law on Principles of Local Self-Government of FBiH.

"It is unknown for a country to not have a capital city. In this way, a political message has been sent to the City of Sarajevo from the Federal Parliament that they do not want Sarajevo as the capital city. On the other hand, in an economic sense, this means that the functions of the City of Sarajevo are being radically narrowed, almost to the point of cessation," emphasized Komšić.

According to Komšić, the permanent solution is the financing of the City of Sarajevo from the Budget of the Federation, because the city is defined as a local self-government unit.

"By the decision of the City Council, we will take measures against all levels of government and the Constitutional Court of FBiH. We will insist that the Sarajevo Canton finally adopts the law on local self-government. We will also address the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH because the state cannot deny its capital city," announced Mayor Komšić.

According to the President of the City Council, Sabahudin Delić, the most ideal solution is to submit an initiative to the Council of Ministers of BiH after the elections to adopt a law on the capital city. "If not, we will seek an appeal before the Constitutional Court of FBiH for the interpretation of the disputed law," announced Delić.