Amendments to the Law on Civil Service Spark Debate: Advisors Appointed by Politicians Must No Longer Express Political Stances

(Patria) - The Bill on Amendments to the Law on Civil Service in the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, proposed by the Council of Ministers of BiH, has sparked a debate among MPs.

Milan Dunović (DF) stated in his debate that while there are good aspects to the amendments, serious matters have been attempted to be pushed through the back door.

"We are talking about advisors (appointed persons). The holder of an executive position appoints an advisor. An advisor is not a civil servant. An advisor is a politically appointed person. In this amendment before us, Article 5 states that the following articles apply to advisors. An advisor is impartial and particularly avoids activities and omissions in the performance of their official duties. An advisor refrains from publicly expressing their political beliefs. A politically appointed advisor has no right to a political stance. Why does an advisor have no right to express a political stance, when they are appointed by a politically appointed person with their signature? Is the intention to hire advisors who have no opinion, or that in the next amendment to the law, an advisor who has not expressed a stance can be appointed to a leading civil servant position without a competition procedure?", said Dunović.

NES MP Jasmin Emrić also joined the debate on this law.

"An advisor does not have to be a citizen of BiH, meaning an advisor can also be a foreigner. This means that all officials who have advisors can appoint persons who are not citizens of BiH. The advisors of our ministers and their deputies can be people from Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, China, to help our ministers work and devise such amendments. Advisors do not need to have a university degree or other academic qualifications either," said Emrić.

Advisors no longer have to buy diplomas or rush to finish university.

Sanja Vulić from SNSD pointed out that a selective approach has been taken in the amendments to the law.

"I would like this law to be returned for revision, to include all civil servants, and to make either amendments or a new law so that we have an effective law that would benefit everyone and create better services," said Vulić.
She added that the SNSD club will decide later how they will vote on this law.

Due to tensions between Darko Babalj and Marinko Čavara and the determination of how many times Babalj used his right to debate, a 15-minute break was declared at the request of Mladen Bosić.