Did the BPK Assembly help the economy or the representatives: Who is playing dumb, and who knows what's going on?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Assembly of the Bosansko-Podrinjski Canton adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on Representatives' Allowances and Salaries of Officials Elected by, Appointed by, or Whose Election and Appointment is Confirmed by the Assembly of the Bosansko-Podrinjski Canton Goražde at its session on May 19.

The Law stipulates a 10 percent reduction in the base salary for appointed officials during the state of emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic and for one month after its cessation, and the funds will be paid into a special fund to help business entities, i.e., for subsidies to entrepreneurship and crafts, private companies, and entrepreneurs.

The adoption of the law caused strong public reactions, and different stances of the representatives in the BPK Assembly contributed to this.

Sinan Ligata from the Commission for Budget, Finance, and Administrative Affairs, which proposed the amendments to the aforementioned law, says that the whole matter is not as it is presented to the public.

"Individuals have presented this in a way to gain cheap political points. The convocation of the Government and Assembly of the BPK, under pressure from the protests in 2014, made an illegal and unconstitutional decision to deduct 10 percent from the net income of elected and appointed officials. The law has been applied so far, and the funds remained accumulated in the budget. There was no fund, i.e., account, to which these funds would go. They did not make a decision on where the funds would go," adds Ligata.

He notes that the majority in the Assembly Collegium, in an effort to help entrepreneurs, decided to direct these funds to one account and to know where the funds are going. In the meantime, the cantonal corona law was passed, which defines account 614 for the economy and agriculture, and the aforementioned funds will go to that account, i.e., for the economy.

"In the corona law, we have defined that subsidies to entrepreneurs are provided during the corona period and for one month thereafter. The decision on salaries has transferred this article in the same way, stating that the decision lasts for one month after the expiry of the corona law and is linked to the corona law," emphasizes Ligata.

The funds, he adds, are earmarked for that purpose.

"Now it is known that these 10 percent deducted from elected and appointed officials are directed to the economy, not accumulated. Everything was done to avoid lawsuits. And later, the Assembly will decide where the funds will be directed. The majority, i.e., 19 representatives, voted in favor, and three abstained. The story that they didn't know what they were voting for is a story for small children. Everything is clear here, and individuals have used this to gain some points with the people," says Ligata, concluding: "Some individuals want to be in power and in opposition at the same time."

We asked Mirsad Agović, Minister of Finance in the BPK Government, for a comment on the whole situation, but he told Patria that the Ministry had given a negative opinion and that this was its only stance and comment.

"We received the law, professionally gave our opinion, and that's all. I don't know why the Government is being linked to this. It's not a big impact on the budget, but since there was no assessment, we had to give such a stance. It's a monthly amount of two to three thousand convertible marks. We could not accept their statement that it would not affect the budget, of course, it will affect it, but the procedure was not followed and this is not the time for it, which is why we gave a negative opinion. I am not the one to judge whether it should have been done or not," said Agović, writes Patria.

Mirsad Žuga, president of the SDA Club in the BPK Assembly, claims in an interview with Patria that he had a different proposal.

"Under threat of lawsuits because of these 10 percent that are deducted and it is not known where they go, the Budget Commission presented that lawsuits be prevented through amendments to the Law on Salaries of Elected and Appointed Officials. The issue has been discussed for a long time in the collegiums. Since we previously adopted the corona law with earmarked accounts for helping the economy, so that it is known where the funds go until 30 days after the end of the pandemic. Nothing is increasing for us here, it's just known where these funds are going," emphasizes Žuga.

He adds that later there were stories about their salaries being increased, which he says is not true.

"At the collegium, I proposed that 20 percent be deducted. The media published headlines that our salaries were increased, which is not true. We directed the money to go to the right place, and we will decide later how it will be resolved. I expect a session of the BPK Assembly soon, as well as coalition meetings, to see how we will resolve this, how and why the confusion arose. The question arises what happens after the coronavirus pandemic. There is now some talk about deducting from per diems, not from salaries. We expect this to be explained to us, because no one was in favor of our salaries being increased," said Žuga to the Patria agency.

The president of the SDA Club states that everyone later came out with some populist story.

When asked if the SDA is in favor of the funds being deducted for other purposes even after the 30-day period following the pandemic, Žuga says they will negotiate about it.

"I proposed that 20 percent be deducted, but the majority in the collegium remained silent, including the Speaker of the Assembly. We voted for what was presented to us by the Budget Commission. There are more political motives involved in this. If any problem occurred, we will resolve it at the next session, because I don't want to be slandered for it," says Žuga.

Edita Velić, Speaker of the BPK Assembly, tells the Patria agency that all representatives were surprised by the proposed amendments to the aforementioned law.

"At the collegium, we said that since these are funds that have been regularly deducted since 2014 and go into the budget, we should channel them to help the economy. However, we received the proposal on our desks, and what bothered me was that it stated that this was for the period of the pandemic and one month thereafter. That was not the agreement, because no one asked for it to be for one month after the pandemic," said Velić.

She adds that she thought they were caught off guard and that no one had asked for such a thing.

"It's a hot potato that was thrown into the representatives' hands, and it's a mark on everything we've done, and none of the representatives asked for such a thing. The agreement at the collegium was to deduct about 120 KM (10 percent) from all representatives and appointed officials, and that these funds go into a special fund, primarily for the economy, and then for other segments such as the veteran population, social benefits. However, we didn't even receive the basic text of the Law, I didn't like it, and I didn't vote for it. I have faced a lot of criticism for it, as well as for publicly stating that it was not the time for such a law, and I was criticized by both the ruling and opposition parties," says the Speaker of the BPK Assembly.

She further adds, "since this was slipped to us at the session, I believe that we representatives do not stand behind it. I do not think it should have been done this way, because we are causing public revolt."

"In a situation where we say we can barely pay benefits to veterans, new mothers, and other categories, we are talking about an increase, and no matter how much it is, it is a large amount on an annual level," emphasizes Velić.

When asked if she could remove this item from the agenda, she says that only the proposer, i.e., the Budget Commission, could do that.

Regarding the rumors that she is allegedly preparing the ground for a party change, Velić says: "those are fabrications by colleagues whom I have criticized."

Rasim Mujagić from the ruling Liberal Party tells Patria that he "urged his party colleagues to vote for this decision."

"Back in 2014, they illegally reduced incomes, and a fund to which these funds would go was never created. For years, governments have been spending my money, and I don't know where it's going. It's not a problem for me to have it deducted, but to be able to decide where that money will go. All those who are currently in power knew what they were voting for, and it is not right for them to play dumb now because they are afraid of public reactions," said Mujagić.