DECISION OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS OF BIH PUBLISHED TODAY BHRT employees received their last salary on January 17, and it is unclear when they will receive the next one

The Official Gazette of Bosnia and Herzegovina today published a decision on the use of part of the accumulated surplus of revenues over expenditures of the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, realized as of December 31, 2021, in the amount of 10,000,000 BAM.

The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at its session on February 9, decided to allocate 4,000,000 BAM to the Public Radio and Television Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3,000,000.00 BAM to the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and 3,000,000.00 BAM to the Government of Republika Srpska for entity public broadcasters. However, this money is intended for the procurement of equipment for studio and production capacities for signal production in HD resolution and the repayment of rights for the broadcast of the 2024 European Football Championship and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, when it comes to BHRT.

Entity broadcasters will use the funds to encourage the development of the electronic media sector and create conditions for strengthening media pluralism, in accordance with the decisions of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Government of Republika Srpska.

Due to the suspension of RTV fee collection because BHRT General Director Belmin Karahmedović refused to sign a new contract with JP Elektroprivreda BiH, while RTVFBiH Director Džemal Šabić did so, the state radio and television found itself in financial difficulties.

The last salary for over 800 BHRT employees was paid on January 17. It cannot be expected that salaries will be paid from these funds approved by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Workers have already faced warnings due to non-payment of loans and other obligations, and most BHRT salaries are not sufficient even for a month, let alone for a period of 36 days or longer. Given that the decision was published in the Official Gazette today, the question is when this money will be transferred to BHRT's account, and weekend days are approaching.
Workers obviously cannot expect the next salary before next week.

Minister of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina Edin Forto, in whose jurisdiction the Public RTV service falls, has recently appealed for the directors of the two public services (RTVFBiH and BHRT) to agree and sign a contract with JP Elektroprivreda BiH.
Given that the RTV fee has not been included in electricity bills for the second month, public broadcasters have already lost millions of BAM.

Due to this situation, the atmosphere in the RTV building itself has been disrupted, and the workers who only want their earned salaries are suffering the most.

(A.V.)